You Should Have Let Me Sleep
by VanillaJasmine
Summary: Third in the series, sequel to Shall We Begin? and Have I Got Your Attention Now? Two years after the events of Have I Got Your Attention now. Re-awoken to assist in a new mission, Khan is wondering how he ever trusted the Federation, and if he is prepared to again for the woman he loves. Nyota is seeing life through new eyes, and must decide on her path once and for all. (some OC)
1. Chapter 1

"Sir, he's coming round." A female voice spoke softly over the hum of machinery.

Khan carefully stretched his fingers and focused on his breathing as his vitals settled his body to its normal level of function. Even with his eyes closed, the light that seeped through his lids stung his overly sensitive retinas. Staring into darkness for so long had weakened them. He felt the surface on which he lay start to move beneath him, gradually changing his position to sitting up. Slowly, he opened his eyes.

For all Khan knew, he could be anywhere. His vision swam in and out of focus. Objects moved and changed shape, some were crystal clear and others just a coloured smudge. He blinked several times, each time his vision changed, but did not seem to get better.

"Here, this should help your vision." The female voice sounded again. He turned his head to the source to find a Starfleet doctor standing next to him. She jabbed him in the neck with an injector, and his sight began to clear.

He held a hand over his brow, still needing to shield his eyes from the bright ceiling lights, the doctor noticed and asked the computer to lower the rooms light levels. Removing his hand from his brow, he nodded to the doctor, acknowledging her action.

Khan had no clue regarding his location. The hum of medical machinery made it difficult to detect if there was any engine noise, and the lack of windows meant he couldn't see if they were in space or on Earth. The room was small and filled with only essential pieces of medical equipment. On the floor in a corner to his left was his empty cryotube, to the right, more instruments and a console, just beyond that was the door. Himself and the doctor were the only living inhabitants of the room. He was about to say something, when the door opened and a man walked in.

This man was not exceptionally tall, he had salt and pepper hair and a face aged with experience and knowledge. He wore basic Starfleet medical clothing and Khan recognised him immediately.

"General Wells…" Khan croaked with mild disbelief, eyes glued to a man he was certain to be dead.

The General had not heard him as he momentarily busied himself with the medical readouts and was brought up to speed on Khan's condition by the doctor.

Khan had regarded General Wells as his only ally when he was first awoken by Admiral Marcus in 2259. The General had been a superior in the workings of Section 31 and London's Starfleet Intelligence, and one of the few people Marcus had informed of his plans and utilisation of Khan.

Wells had been the only person to disapprove of Marcus' actions. He had been the only one to air his concerns of how Khan may react, and to challenge the late Admirals decision in an attempt to stop him before he started, but he was unsuccessful. When Khan was awoken, Wells had remained suspicious of how Marcus was really 'working' with Khan, only discovering the extent of his manipulation when walking in on an argument between Admiral and augment. The Admiral had no choice then but to tell Wells how he got Khan to cooperate on anything, how he had filled Khan's head with promises of his family that he never intended to keep. The General was shocked by the measures of his superior and felt sympathy for Khan. His further objections to the plans resulted in Admiral Marcus relieving him of his services and cutting him from the project.

Khan had felt certain that the Admiral had seen to it that Wells would be killed; disposed of in the necessary way so he would not be able to talk or leak information to the rest of Starfleet about what was really going on. The Admiral feared the General because he knew he was right all along.

Wells approached Khan's bedside and the augments mind raced. What had really happened when the Admiral had banished him from Section 31? Yet more importantly, why was he here before him now? What was going on? What did Starfleet need from him this time..?

Khan watched the General as he stood looking at him. His lips were pressed into a hard line and his forehead creased with thought, yet his eyes regarded him with sympathy and a strange air of comfort, almost as if he was pleased to see him.

"Your vitals are excellent as ever." Wells commented, briefly looking over the PADD in his hand. "I will give you an hour to adjust to consciousness, then come and meet me in my office."

He was already handing the PADD back to the doctor and heading back to the door he entered. He stopped at the door and turned to face Khan from across the room.

"The doctor here will tell you where to go."

Khan frowned at Wells and the odd atmosphere surrounding him.

"What is going on?"

The Generals lips pressed back into a line.

"All will be explained to you soon." He replied after a pause, "Fifty-nine minutes and counting!"

Wells left before Khan had a chance to open his mouth again.

Khan sighed and sunk back into the bed. Closing his eyes, he allowed himself some moments of reflection. The war, his ship, his family, his love… his love. The love he had allowed to be taken from him. He clenched his fists in his lap. How could he have been so idle? They should have run; decked out a craft from the Vengeance's hangar and taken off to an inhabitable planetoid, settled in a life together. How could he have let himself believe that Starfleet would ever trust him? Could ever be trusted? They never could, yet it had cost him the love of his life to realise this.

Reopening his eyes, he took a breath and let his eyes find the doctor.

"What year is it?" He asked.

If he couldn't know yet what was going on, he could surely be told a few basic details to help him get his head together.

"2263." She responded.

The war had ended in 2261; a two year sleep was far more preferable to a three-century one.

"Time?"

"15:47 hours."

"Where are we?"

"Earth. Starfleet Intelligence Base Two, San Francisco."

Khan carefully swung his legs off the edge of the bed and got to his feet. The doctor watched him cautiously, as if he were a large tree that had been felled and could fall in any direction. He steadied himself on the edge of the mattress, stretching himself up to his full height. He briefly studied his arms, hands, feet, and what he could see of his legs sticking out from the bottom of his medical gown. He did not like wearing these flimsy medical gowns. Too unstable and weak to provide any form of coverage or practicality. He tugged at a corner of the strange sterile material.

The doctor gestured to another small door on the left, past the head of the medical bed.

"There is a shower room with a locker of standard uniform through there." She pointed. "You can report back for some reflex tests after you've washed and stretched out a bit."

He nodded and wasted no time in heading for a chance to clean and change into better clothing.

Khan made a decision. Whatever was happening, whatever this was, he wanted nothing to do with it. He would have no involvement in whatever the General was going to ask of him, because he was obviously going to require something, why else would they awaken him? After all that had happened between himself and the Federation, even if he was about to receive a full pardon with restoration of a working position in Starfleet, and accepted as a citizen of Earth, it would mean nothing to him without Nyota. The only reason they had kept him alive, put him back into cryostasis, was so that he may go on living without her. His punishment was to be kept eternally drifting in and out of stasis, and to each time relive the pain of losing the woman he so adored.

He would not do it. Resigning himself to an ordinary life now, without Nyota, meant living the life of punishment Starfleet so wanted him to endure.


	2. Chapter 2

Spock strode with purpose toward Starfleet's Intelligence Grounds, studying a PADD filled with new data that presented both opportunities of many different varieties, and the potential to be one of the Federations most fascinating ventures of exploration to date.

Starfleet was abuzz with the news, the world curious and every skilled officer in the Federation fidgeted with the anticipation of being selected to report for duty.

It was early days, and preparations were still underway. Spock recognised himself to be one of the more fortunate members of Starfleet to already be involved in this mission. In many ways, he was grateful for the distraction from his own mind.

The past two years had been undeniably difficult. Although he would never let emotion govern his mind or affect his work, there were days where his control of his thoughts and feelings slipped. He strongly disliked the feelings of guilt. He had ranked guilt second to helplessness and above both sadness and anger.

Keeping busy helped to distract him from the absence of Nyota, and his part to play in her absence, but it was not always enough. In moments of quiet, his thoughts would occasionally drift to her. He had grown better at controlling these thoughts over the time that had elapsed since her sentencing, but even the smallest image still had the potential to dull his mind.

He missed her. He allowed himself to accept that feeling, allowed himself to reflect upon this emotion and come to terms with it. However, the worst of it came with an illogical longing to see her again, and to make amends in their relationship. He found he suffered most when acknowledging this, as the probability of the chance ever occurring was next to nothing.

Spock was momentarily surprised by the sudden disappearance of his device from his hands.

"Is this a data report!?" He looked up to the thief of the device - James T. Kirk, who was now excitedly scrolling through columns of classified information.

"That information is not for your eyes, Captain." Spock protested, reaching for the device. Kirk held it up out of reach like a child denying his younger sibling a toy.

"Hand me the device now."

"Oh come on, just a peek?" Kirk was still trying to read information from the screen.

"I will not play your infantile human game of 'keep-away', Jim."

Kirk looked at him like a dejected puppy.

"But I haven't been selected and this data is nearly impossible to access! It's like finding gold dust!"

Spock grabbed the device off the Captain and put it on standby before tucking it under his arm.

"It is supposed to be impossible to access, Captain, because it is classified." Spock told him, "However, given that they are starting the process of personnel selection today, it is highly likely that you will have access to this information before the day is out, if you are selected for the mission."

"You think so?" Kirk grinned, "Or do you actually know-so and you're just trying to be subtle and tell me I'm in without really telling me?"

Spock frowned.

"I do not know for certain, I have merely predicted the most logical outcome according to your notable success in Starfleet."

"Of course you have."

Kirk was still smiling at him, but he had somewhere to be.

"If you'll excuse me, Captain, I have a meeting with General Wells, the appointed head of the new programme."

Kirk patted him on the arm as he passed.

"Put in a good word for me!" Kirk called back to Spock as he made his way to Intelligence Base Two.

xxxx

Khan was oddly surprised when the doctor gave him the directions to General Wells office and allowed him to make his own way there. No guards were called to escort him, no handcuffs slapped on to control him, just a simple 'Third floor, second door on the right.' instruction was given.

He could leave right now. Walk out those front facility doors and into the world and disappear, Khan thought to himself as he found the lift. Yet the General had been clever, intriguing him by not telling him what was going on the minute he was awoken, giving him a reason to stay. He knew he would have questions that needed answering. Khan decided to let this little trick of the General's slide, for he couldn't deny, he was curious, even if he did still plan on not helping.

The door to the General's office was open and Wells was awaiting Khan at his desk. Khan shut the door behind him, stepping into the small workspace.

"I'm glad you didn't decide to make a run for it." Wells commented, gesturing for him to take a seat.

"A pointless exercise, given that I have questions and that you are the only person who can answer them."

Wells looked as if he was about to say one thing, but changed his mind, choosing a different answer instead.

"I'll let you ask what you want to know, and fill you in on anything you need to." Wells said, resting his elbows on the desk.

Khan regarded him for a moment. Where to start? He appreciated that the General treated him with some respect as another fellow human, and not as a programmable machine that would carry out any order asked of him.

"How are you alive?"

Wells looked momentarily surprised, obviously not expecting any questions to be about him.

"What.. what do you mean?"

"In 2259, after all the trouble with Admiral Marcus. You stood up for what was right and he got rid of you. I assumed he had you killed, yet here you are."

"Not killed, just suspended and banished to a little corner of England and a smaller Starfleet base. It was only after," He paused, "Only after you killed Marcus, and the rumours of what was really happening started to air that I was summoned back to London to state what I knew. People listened to me then."

"What's happening now?" Khan moved on, satisfied with the explanation, "Why am I awake?"

Wells composed himself, formulating his answer.

"A new mission has come up, very intriguing, but very dangerous, and we need you."

"'We'," Khan picked, "'We' as in Starfleet?"

"Yes, 'we' as in Starfleet…"

Khan sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Go on; why do you need me, specifically?"

"It was the Admiral's plan to awaken you, to use you in this mission because he thinks your life is less valuable than other officers in Starfleet. He posed the idea as you are deemed as more 'dispensable'." The General told him truthfully. "However, I don't see you like that, and this is my operation, Khan. I need you as part of it because you are brilliant."

"I'm flattered." Khan stated, nonchalant. "What is the operation?"

"A new small, yet inhabitable planetoid has been discovered in the Laurentian System. It is being named 'Orcus'."

"Latin God of the underworld…" Khan mused, "Interesting choice of name."

"I did say it was dangerous." Wells continued, "And that's why I need your help and expertise."

Khan waited patiently, still inclined to listen, but not necessarily inclined to offer his much needed help.

"When the planetoid was discovered, following standard procedure, a unit of Starfleet personnel were sent down to survey the planet." He paused, "Two-hundred men and women lost their lives and no person or piece of machinery can tell us why. As you can imagine, we are now skeptical to send anyone else down there."

"But you want to send me down there?" Khan interjected. He was seeing the 'dispensable' opinion clearly now.

"Not on your own." The General was keen to reassure him, "From the data we have managed to gather, we know that the planets atmospherical, biological and chemical systems are perfectly safe for human inhabitants. The average climate is a couple of degrees warmer than Earth, but apart from that its fairly similar to here. So ruling that out as a factor for killing, the question remains; what is down there that managed to kill two-hundred people?"

"We have detected life forms, but without being able to survey the planet properly we cannot distinguish those life forms individually." He explained, "So, we need a tactical approach, and a bloody good one, because we don't know what we might be dealing with. We need your help."

"What makes you think I am inclined to provide you with any?" Khan said after a pause.

"Khan…"

"After the last time?" He continued, "Why would I ever choose to help Starfleet again? I have lost everything and gained nothing. Filled with false promises and continually stabbed in the back."

The General sighed, he could not fault him.

"I know." He agreed with him, "And if any of it had been in my control things would have been different. Yet now it is. This mission is in my control, so I am asking you for your help, not ordering you to help us. We do need your skills, but I will not force you as Alexander Marcus did."

As Khan was pondering his choices, there was a sharp knock at the door. The General muttered something that sounded like a curse and checked his watch.

"Enter."

The door opened, and in stepped Commander Spock.

"General, I," Spock was stopped short by who he saw with Wells, and found for the first time in two years, himself speechless.

Khan automatically rose to his feet, staring at the Vulcan who had been the cause of his sentencing, of his pain, of Nyota's death. The General quickly moved around from behind the desk to occupy the space between them.

"You were not supposed to see each other yet, our meeting has over run." Wells explained slowly to both men.

"I was lead to believe that this mans life had been terminated." Spock growled, eyes locked with Khan's and barely able to control his rising anger.

"Unfortunately no," Khan gritted his teeth, "Death would have been a kindness after what you have forced me to endure."

"Do not blame your actions on me. Your insatiable need for self-gain and superiority resulted in your losses and the loss of Nyota."

"Yet thanks to your input, our fate was decided." Khan snarled, "If I had been killed, I could not have been informed of the death of Nyota. This way I am punished by the knowledge, and I am doomed to be revived and relive the pain of losing her."

"Her death?" Spock questioned, seething by the presence of Khan, "Nyota did not lose her life, she was condemned to cryostasis, regarded as one of _your _people." He said the words like they were bitter, as if it were a punishment worse than death.

Khan's mind halted.

"What?"

The question erupted from him as a rumble. A sound filled with inquisition and a rage that was barely contained beneath the surface of his skin.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey people! Sorry I haven****'****t updated for a few days! My home internet decided to die mid last week so I have had no way to get online and upload! But it****'****s all fixed now and it did give me the chance to get lots of writing done, so look forward to a few new chapters coming your way in quick succession! Much love to you. Enjoy :) **

It took every ounce of Khan's strength not to leap forward and strangle the Vulcan where he stood.

Nyota was alive, forced into cryostasis, but alive.

Bitterness coursed through him at the thoughts of being tricked, lied to once again by Starfleets senior officers; how they enjoyed his suffering.

Khan shifted his lethal gaze from Spock to General Wells.

"Were you going to tell me the truth?"

The General stuttered under his piercing look.

"I did not know you had been lied to."

Khan held his stare. Truthful. The man had obviously been lied to as well.

"But you knew she was in cryostasis, not terminated?"

"Yes. I saw the official reports on both your sentences, but both state that you were separately informed of each others cryostasis terms."

Khan pressed his lips together in a hard line and drew a long intake of breath. He turned his back on both Wells and Spock.

This is what the Federation had wanted. They wanted both himself and Nyota to think the other was dead, so if they were re-awoken, they would believe there was no chance of ever seeing each other again, making them supposedly easier to coerce with nothing left to live for…

Khan composed himself as he thought, turning his attention back to the General.

"I need some time," He said, seemingly calmer than before. "I will think on your request, General, and have an answer for you by the end of the day."

The General stood taller and eyed him.

"There is a Starfleet personnel apartment block a few streets from the base, yours is the top floor studio." Wells informed him. "You go there, think, calm down and report back to me by 21:00 hours, you understand?"

"Yes sir." Khan replied, trying not to let his tone waver. He was set to leave when the General spoke out again.

"I mean it, Khan." He said, authoritative but with compassion, "Don't make things more difficult for yourself than they have to be."

Khan thought a moment and nodded, leaving the room with a venomous stare at the Vulcan.

The studio apartment was more than adequate for Khan's needs. Set out in equal quadrants of sitting area, kitchen, small console station and bedroom, with a bathroom off to the left, it was certainly better than a cryotube.

He paced the length of the apartment, thinking, feeling stressed and angry, yet desperate and optimistic all at once.

Crossing the room to his comm, he busily hacked into Starfleets system. Two years and they had barely updated their security, shameful, he thought as he easily gained access to most of Starfleets classified information. He scanned past blocks and blocks of data concerning Orcus, completely uninterested in the pressing mission and far more preoccupied with his own new one.

'_2261 - Intergalactic War__'_

_Defences_

_Plans _

_Strategies_

_Completed_

_Successes_

_Tactical Reports_

_Khan Noonien-Singh_

Why did he always have his own folder? These people really did make it far too easy for him.

'_Khan Noonien-Singh: Utilised and successfully cooperated with tactfully in war effort. Later sentenced to re-cryostasis following the discovery of personal acts of unauthorised planning for reasons of self gain.__' _

'_Nyota Uhura: Strayed from Starfleet in pursuit of relationship with criminal known as Khan Noonien-Singh. Successfully outsmarted the Federation and fully involved in unauthorised planning of personal acts with the fugitive-turned-ally. Sentenced to cryostasis as part of Khan__'__s crew.__'_

'_Vengeance Crew: treated as accessories to the facts and sentenced to re-cryostasis.__'_

'_Additional: Khan Noonien-Singh and Nyota Uhura were separated on return to Earth and separately told that their partner had been terminated before being put into cryostasis. This has been done in an attempt to eliminate any future complications that may arise if one or other person is revived. Nyota Uhura was later transferred to London__'__s Starfleet Vaults to be placed with Khan and his crew.__'_

A smirk of mildly impressed disbelief played on Khan's lips. This was too good, he honestly didn't think the Federation could be so cruel. Laying Nyota within the very vault he and his crew occupied, knowing he would never find out. Bittersweet.

He had to get to London, but first, there was something else he needed to do.

"Computer, locate Commander Spock."

'_Commander Spock: Intelligence Transmission Laboratory, Starfleet Intelligence Base One._'

Khan cleared his computer and wasted no more time. First he would deal with the Vulcan.

xxxx

The laboratory was quiet and small, and fortunately for Khan, only occupied by Commander Spock.

He let the door close heavily behind him, the noise distracting the Vulcan from his work.

"I have neither the time nor the desire to speak with you, Khan."

"Too bad." Khan told him as he walked toward him.

"If you have come for a fight you will not be getting one. And I do not think it is wise that you try to initiate one, for the consequences will come down on you, not me."

Irritatingly, Spock was right; Khan could not physically harm him without it causing himself trouble, but nothing could stop him from psychologically toying with him…

"Oh Spock, you're just too good aren't you? The Federations 'can-do-no-wrong' Commander." Khan began.

"What has your textbook attitude provided you with? Recognition? Success? Importance within Starfleet? Respect from your fellow officers perhaps?"

Spock put down the device he was reading from and stared at Khan.

"Your manipulation will not work, you are wasting your time."

Khan smirked.

"I am not manipulating you," He denied, "Just remembering where your loyalties lie, seeing if after everything, you still rank your work and position in Starfleet above _everything_ else."

Spock stared at him, jaw clenched and desperately trying not to play Khan's game.

"I can see you are attempting to disturb me by testing my emotions toward Lieutenant Uhura. Perhaps you are doing this because _you_ are disturbed by the thought that you were not the last person she saw, or even spoke to."

Khan squared himself to Spock.

"Well, perhaps its time I remedied that situation. After all, I highly doubt she was eager for _your_ company."

Spock's brow twitched at the memory of his last conversation with Nyota.

"How does it feel, Spock?" Khan pried, "To have looked upon her and seen nothing but resentment for your presence occupying her precious final hours of life? I bet she welcomed the chance to be frozen, just to escape your sorry attempts at a last minute reconciliation."

Spock's fist flew sharply at Khan's face, sending him stumbling backwards. The Vulcan was unable to control himself now, even if he had wanted too.

Khan took and deflected several more punches and returned a few of his own, yet with Spock's fighting coming from an emotional standpoint, his throws were predictable and less tactical; it took Khan less than a minute to gain the upper hand and kick Spock to the floor.

"Enough." Khan growled, sharply kicking him again, "You're done. I have a more important matter to attend."

Leaving Spock struggling to get to his feet, Khan swiftly left the room and made his way out of the laboratory. He needed something to get him to London, and something to help him if he was going to successfully get Nyota's cryotube out of the London Vault.

He made his way through the Intelligence Base, following a sign leading to the transportation room. An Intelligence Base would not only have its own transporter pad, but would undoubtedly be geared up with some high tech devices for moving agents and intelligence personnel swiftly and undetected between locations.

A room opposite the transporter room was locked with a key code pad. Khan checked over his shoulders for people before hacking his way through the lock. The panel quickly granted him access.

He searched the rooms cabinets and storage shelves, eventually finding a cabinet of what appeared to be transporter beacons. He picked up a device and activated it, logging through the programmable features and smiling, this would be more than capable for his needs.

Taking the device and leaving the room as he found it, he headed off the base.

He knew the location of the Vaults, but could not beam directly there without knowing the exact bunker level his people were on. Entering a set of coordinates into the device, he activated it, readying himself to soon see familiar streets.

It was the early hours of the morning in London, and although the city was still busy with working people, the darkness provided him with a cover to move without being noticed.

He energised two streets away from the Starfleet Vaults and made the rest of the way on foot, heading around towards the back of the facility. Khan found the security door and paused a moment outside. He could see light seeping out from under the door and hear footsteps from within. Three, no two, sets. He would have no choice but to take down the guards.

Kicking the door down, Khan flew into the room, taking out one guard instantly and the other as he was deciding how to react to the intruder. They fell to the floor, unconscious, but not dead.

Incapacitating the security guards had provided him with a much needed disguise. He grabbed one of the guards hats and picked a security jacket off a peg on the wall by the door. It was a little small for him, but better than nothing, and the hat would help hide his recognisable features.

Quickly sitting at the computer, he did what he did best; accessed the system and located the position of his people and his beloved Nyota.

'_Floor B6 - Bunker 2__'_


	4. Chapter 4

After viewing the floor plans for the layout of the building, Khan chose as many back corridors as he could to lead him down to the sixth floor.

A few officers passed him as he descended the levels of the building, but paid him no more interest than a tired, graveyard shift glance. Moving with a purposeful presence and the aid of a disguise made him automatically less suspicious.

Access codes. Access codes everywhere. On every corner, stairwell and broom cupboard. Fortunately for Khan, the hack was fairly straightforward and worked on each lock he encountered.

He finally stood before a large vault door. '_B6 - Bunker 2__'_

Taking a moment, he aligned his thoughts. Every person he held affection for lay behind this reinforced door. It would be difficult to take only one and have to leave the others, where they could once again be used against him, but he had to see Nyota alive again. He had to feel the energy of her presence, the touch of her skin, hear the sound of her voice and see the light in her eyes again. He needed her with him. He just needed her.

The bunker was pitch black and deathly silent. As the heavy door clunked shut behind him, Khan ran his hands along the walls in search of the rooms console.

The light from the computer screen was blinding in contrast to the nothingness that his eyes had adjusted to. Activating the lights caused three rows of dim spotlights to illuminate the walkways between the rows of cryotubes.

The stillness was strange. It felt peaceful, yet the feeling disagreed with the memories and reasoning behind the entombment. The war that each member had fought and lost, and the kind of peace they had no choice but to accept. They did not deserve this again.

He slowly walked the rows, reading each family members name until he reached a gap; the space where his cryotube had been taken from, and surely enough, laying right beside it was Nyota.

The blissfully unaware symmetry of their situation was sickening, to have been beside her all along…

He stepped toward the glass and saw her face for the first time in two years. His heart felt heavy, blood pumped through his veins and threatened to spike at the anger he felt for her having to endure this.

Time was now of the essence. He attached the transporter beacon to the side of the cryotube and programmed it to calculate the mass of the stasis chamber in order to beam it out of the vault. He added another code to the programme, his own calculated body mass, and entered the coordinates for the San Francisco studio apartment so they could be transported back together.

The device bleeped negatively. Khan frowned, momentarily unable to work out why it hadn't worked. He checked the device.

_Proximity containment block_.

Cursing himself, he felt foolish for not thinking. Each bunker in the vault was protected with its own kind of shielding, preventing anything or anyone from beaming directly in and out of the bunkers. They were manual operation zones only; all transportation was to be done through solid means.

Khan dashed back over to the computer, testing the system to see if there was any way he could break the shielding. The programming was complex, and while he would be able to get around it, it would take far more time than he currently had. There was only one other option.

Crouching down, he removed the cover panel from the console, exposing the cables and wires supplying the energy to maintain the locks and shielding. Grabbing two fistfuls of wires, Khan yanked every cable loose, splitting and breaking them free, disabling all the electrical functions of the room.

Plunged back into darkness, Khan quickly made his way back to Nyota's cryotube. Alarms rang out in the corridors and floors around him as he fumbled to reactivate the transporter beacon. Security would be upon him in seconds, and auxiliary power would cut in even sooner.

This time, the device checked green and energy began to encircle both himself and the cryotube. The darkness of the Vault was gradually replaced with the soft lighting and surroundings of the small studio apartment. Khan finally breathed a sigh of relief, but he knew it wouldn't be long before word got back to General Wells.

xxxx

"What did I say, Khan? How the bloody hell have you done this?"

General Wells' voice filled the room from the computer.

"The London Vault is in uproar, yet it's damn lucky that the senior Commander there had the sense to report this to me, and not go straight to the Admiral!"

Khan rest his hands on Nyota's cryotube in a futile attempt to create some form of contact between himself and her, and entered the correct sequencing to begin the first stages of her revival.

"Alerts of a major security breach have been sent to the Admiral, and he is going to demand to know whats going on." Wells continued angrily.

Khan looked up at the time on the wall clock. 21:01 hours.

"I have activated her revival sequence, but I will need access to the Intelligence Base medical facility in order to properly restore her." Khan announced, his eyes not leaving the little monitor on the stasis chamber, ensuring everything was running smoothly.

"Are you listening to me?" Wells asked after a moment of watching him from the console screen, "What are you-?"

"You can inform the Admiral that you have successfully gained my help for the mission, in return for Nyota's revival and allowing us to be together."

"You know this will not be accepted."

"Then I shall not help." Khan stated. "It is either this, or nothing for the Federation, and I take Nyota and disappear."

"I am already compromising; I made the decision to leave the rest of my family in that vault, choosing the one woman I cannot bare to be without in an attempt to ease the consequences of my breaking into the bunker." Khan explained himself.

"Please, you of all people must understand that I could not have simply asked for this, for if I had, my answer would have only been a hollow promise."

Khan moved from the cryotube and over to the computer.

"Phrase it in any way you like to the Admiral, but I assure you, you have my help if my terms are adhered to."

The General looked anxious, but right now, Khan was more concerned in ensuring the correct process of revival was achieved for Nyota, it was a delicate task, and he would not lose her when they were so close to being together again. The cryotube bleeped out for the next stage to be initiated, but now Khan needed proper medical equipment.

Turning his attention back to the General, his expression pleaded with him. Wells sighed.

"I'll send out a vehicle with some medical personnel to transport you to the base med-bay."

"Thank you." Khan breathed, returning to Nyota.

xxxx

Khan swiftly set up each piece of medical equipment in the room, the same room he had been revived in, as two doctors brought in Nyota's cryotube.

They lined the chamber up next to the bed and activated the release, before slowly removing Nyota's body from the tube.

He looked over from the med-com screen as they moved her body onto the bed.

"Carefully!" Khan barked at them, displeased with how they dealt with her.

They straightened her limbs, redressed her in a medical gown and started retrieving wires and tubing as Khan finished with the comm and strode over.

"You, move this cryotube." He ordered to one of them, "And you, enter respiratory activation code 452 into the comm." He ordered the other as he gently put an oxygen mask on Nyota.

Gazing down at her nearly-lifeless features, he ran his fingers along her jaw with his free hand, feeling the softness of her cool skin beneath them.

"I'll do all the rest."

The doctors completed their orders and left, not wanting to dwell in Khan's presence or be in his way.

Somehow, Nyota looked smaller than he remembered. Khan's memory of her was always alive; her presence and personality full of confidence as she worked, and determination as she fought, or passion as she loved him.

It was awful to see her now, subjected to this cruelty. Her body motionless and cold, empty of all life and vigour.

Khan carefully entered the digits of the slowest revival sequence he knew into the computer. Unsure of the exact procedure she had been put to sleep to, he could not take any risks in rushing her awakening, the possibility of killing her was too great. By using a slow rate, he would be able to control every stage and monitor everything as inch by inch her body and consciousness was brought back to the present.

The read outs and devices all hummed quietly, the occasional encouraging beep alerted success in a different phase. Khan intently observed and recorded the changing numbers and levels, ensuring not one was incorrect or faltering.

After an hour, Nyota's respiratory rate was settled and strong enough for her to not need the oxygen mask, Khan carefully removed it, watching her chest rise and fall as she adjusted to breathing on her own.

Even though the medical readouts did it for him, Khan held her wrist and took her pulse. Still a little slow, but the comm showed her blood pressure was strengthening with the control of her own oxygen intake, and her skin felt warmer and looked brighter than it had done an hour ago.

Khan moved over to the monitors, Nyota's breathing occupying his hearing as he looked over her body report.

Nyota's reaction to cryostasis and revival was different to that of Khan's and his crew. He had only ever seen the affects of stasis on an augmented human, a species who were stronger, hardier, whose bodies could cope with all and varying kinds of stresses, yet even they could feel a little groggy from the process. With Nyota being a natural human, the stasis had taken its toll.

She had full body muscle deterioration, enough to be noticeable but not enough to completely impair her, she would be weaker than she was, but rebuilding muscle mass was an easy enough process. A few internal organs had been affected from lack of continuous function, and her system had been drained of nearly all minerals. Khan increased the dosage on the drip made up of all the different nutrients human bodies needed to function, until she was awake and moving about again, it was all he could supply her with for now.

Khan pulled a chair up next to her bed in front of the screens. Her readouts were clear, and pulse rate and blood pressure finally at a stabilised level. He gently took one of her small hands in his, holding the back of it up to his lips and kissing it. All he could do now was wait for her to wake up.


	5. Chapter 5

Nyota's head throbbed with pain. She felt as if she had been hit with something. Her mind felt fogged and eyes were heavy as she slowly came to terms with her surroundings.

She could hear the hums and beeps of machinery, and feel a combination of cotton and plastic covering her skin. She needed to see where she was. Concentrating, she slowly opened her heavy eyes, only to see the world swim in and out of focus before her. Blinking several times, she moved her hands to cover her eyes, only to then hear footsteps in the room as a person approached her side.

A small pressure clicked on the side of her neck and she recognised the sensation to be an injector. Uncovering her eyes, she blinked again and found her vision returning to normal.

Looking up to see the other occupant of the room, she felt all oxygen leave her and no longer registered any of the grogginess she was feeling as her eyes settled upon Khan. She was stunned.

Khan was gazing at her with tears in his eyes, overwhelmed and relieved to be seeing her awake again.

Her head rushed. Was this real? Was she dreaming? What was going on? Nyota opened her mouth to speak, only managing to produce the first syllable of Khan's name in a worn tone that she did not recognise as her own voice. She weakly reached her hands out to him.

She wanted to ask so many questions but was struggling to speak. Khan hushed her, sat on the edge of the bed and took her cold hands in his warm ones. She sighed, he was real, this was really happening. She was awake. Khan was alive.

Khan moved a hand and brushed a strand of hair away from her face.

"Rest for a little while," He soothed, fingers gently moving, caressing her jawline and neck, "I will explain everything to you soon, my love."

She managed a smile and a small nod as he leaned in and kissed her forehead. His touch made everything else fade away, so as he got up to adjust a console, Nyota started recognising just how awful she felt again.

"Tell me, is anything specifically ailing you?" He asked.

Nyota cleared her throat and managed to speak a little.

"My head is pounding. I just feel heavy and exhausted." She closed her eyes.

Khan upped her dosage of minerals and added in a pain killer before returning to her side.

Nyota reopened her eyes, feeling the effects of whatever he just did starting to kick in. She smiled and he sat closer to her. She touched his face and ran her fingers through his hair.

She never imagined she would do this again. Feel the warmth of his skin and his presence, his soft hair. See those gorgeous, piercing eyes. It was all so simple, but so overwhelming.

"I thought I'd lost you." She whispered, her mind clearing, the pain easing and her memories returning.

"And I you."

She wanted to gaze at him forever, keep her fingers on his skin, his body; she didn't dare move in case he was just a figment of her imagination, or a concoction of the drugs. Yet he couldn't be. She could feel his fingers move over her body as he touched her, almost as if he was checking she was real too.

Khan let his hands run down Nyota's arms, and then her legs, trailing his fingers on the exposed skin that was not covered by her medical gown, partly for the pleasure of feeling her warm skin again, and partly to inspect for any bruising or irregularities that needed attending too.

Nyota took a few deep breaths, feeling gradually better, and Khan focused his attention back to her face.

"What's going on?" She was ready to know, desperate to.

"Patience." He replied, "I need to make sure you're properly restored first."

He got up before she could protest and held his hands out to help her get out of bed. Carefully she moved her legs, clicking her ankle joints before setting her feet to the ground.

"That felt so good." She giggled, taking Khan's hands to steady herself as she stood up.

As she stretched, she felt more clicks and satisfying tugs as her body re-adjusted to functioning. Sleeping for two years had her flexibility shot. She glanced over herself and back up at Khan, suddenly feeling a little dizzy.

Khan observed her a moment as Nyota swayed a little. He held her arms to steady her, she breathed and reassured him.

"I'm okay."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Really, I'm okay."

Khan let go of her arms and she took a few steps around the room. It was so good to be moving. She felt as if all her joints were dusty. Walking back over to the bed, she steadied herself again, feeling tired and not realising that she was weaker than she had been.

"I look thinner…" She mumbled, looking over her arms and legs.

"The cryostasis has somewhat taken its toll on your system and you have lost an amount of muscle mass." Khan told her. He held her arms and helped her to sit on the bed again.

"You're tired." He noticed immediately.

Running a small scanner over her body, he checked each one of her vitals again. Physically and internally, nothing was abnormal and the process of revival had been a success, the exhaustion was understandably her natural reaction.

Putting the device away, Khan checked the time; 00:17. General Wells will have spoken with the Admiral by now and reached a number of possible conclusions, the majority of them probably being harmful to his current situation with Nyota. Plus, the chances of running into Mr. Spock, who will have undoubtedly pieced together Khan's intentions from their little conversation earlier today, were also high. Running into him now would cause more trouble than if the Admiral himself showed up. The base was not a safe place to be.

"I do not like to ask this of you, because I do not want to put you under any unnecessary pressure," Khan began, facing Nyota again. Her expression turned anxious at his tone. "But we have to leave here. I have an apartment a few streets away where we will be safer, and I can explain everything to you."

Nyota's worry was replaced with thoughtful contemplation about what was really going on. She trusted Khan, so agreed, let him help her into some basic clothing, shut down the medical room and lead her out of this unfamiliar place.

xxxx

Nyota was almost asleep as Khan carried her into the apartment. He crossed the studio space to the bedroom area and gently placed her on the bed. Brushing his fingers through her hair, she stirred from her drowsy state.

"Welcome home." He whispered. "Well, I say 'home'. It'll do for now."

She sat up and tiredly looked around the apartment.

"It'll do." She smiled.

"Here," Khan helped her remove her boots, "Get into bed, sleep. You'll feel much better in the morning."

Too tired to do anything else, she sunk into the covers. Khan let her rest.

He thought for a while as Nyota slept; he had been restored just over eight hours ago now, and had been more active than he probably ought to have been, his body may not thank him for the various stresses of fighting Spock and travelling half way around the world.

Walking back over to the front door, he locked and sealed it. The last thing either of them needed was a unit of Starfleet Officers busting in and splitting them up, or an angry Vulcan demanding explanations.

The computer beeped and General Wells appeared on the screen, Khan crossed to it.

"What are you doing Khan? I thought you were at the base?" He asked, his voice filling the room.

Khan scowled at the loud speech, shushing him.

"I was, but Nyota's restoration completed successfully and I felt it safer to move her to the apartment." He told him quietly, not wanting to wake her.

"What have you told her?"

"Nothing so far. She is too tired from the process. I will be telling her _everything _tomorrow."

The General stared at him, looking anxious again.

"How was your conversation with the Admiral? I assume you have spoken with him?"

"Yes, but things remain unconfirmed." Wells told him, "I explained your actions, told him you are willing to help on your terms, and put forward as good a case as I could for you; but he has not made any decisions yet."

Khan frowned, concerned.

"He wants to 'consider every possible scenario'. So has instructed me to keep tabs on you until he's come to a conclusion."

Khan sighed. Of course he has. The Admiral was undoubtedly trying to think of every possible way in which Khan was going to try and twist this to his own advantage, yet right now, he had everything he wanted.

"Fine. Just keep me informed." He replied, ending their communication.


	6. Chapter 6

The following morning Nyota awoke, feeling much better than the night before.

Even though her surroundings were once again unfamiliar, it did not matter to her as the bed was warm and she was wrapped up tightly in Khan's embrace.

She turned over in his arms to face him. He slept soundly, hair messy on the pillow and expression soft, his breathing slow and hypnotic.

Nyota knew nothing, and it was a strange sensation. She did not even know the date or time, let alone how she came to be awoken or how Khan was with her; but right now, she did not care. Nyota sighed and stroked Khan's cheek with her finger, telling herself to enjoy this, make the most of being here in this apartment with him, for luck may turn against her, and they could be separated again.

Stretching slightly, she felt conflicted; half of her wanted to stay here in bed, and the other half longed for a hot shower. She felt grungy.

Giving Khan a kiss on the nose, the latter got the better of her. She slinked out from his hold and he shuffled slightly, his arms laying over the warm spot she had occupied, but he did not awaken.

The place looked smaller in the morning light, but it was just a standard Starfleet apartment with a basic layout. She tiptoed across the room and into the bathroom, removing old clothes along the way.

The water ran hot and fast, she smiled, relishing in its luxury. Before going into cryostasis, she hadn't given a thought to any of the little things, or recognised that she would even miss them; but to be able to experience them again, she knew she would show them a whole new appreciation. Absorbed by the warm water, she was pleasantly surprised when Khan stepped into her shower. Nyota's eyes roamed his perfect form, he was unchanged from how she remembered him.

Khan wasted no time in letting his hands find her body and lips meet her neck, as he gently pushed her up against the tile wall of the shower. Undeniably, they had both missed this the most.

Nyota sighed as Khan's kisses trailed up her neck and found her lips. She ran her fingers up through his now-wet hair, tugging the strands and feeling Khan moan into their kiss. Hitching a leg up to his waist, Khan moved his hands to support her, effortlessly lifting her so she could wrap herself around him. Their bodies moved in rhythms of pure need, slow and purposeful, allowing them to relish in one and other, remember the feelings and sweet spots and discover some new ones. The water rained down on them, blanketing them as they elicited passionate moans and sighs from each other, Nyota digging her fingers into Khan's shoulders as he buried his face in her neck, growling into her skin with his release as she cried out his name with her own.

"Good morning." Khan purred a low rumble, coming down from his high and feathering kisses back up Nyota's neck.

"It certainly is." Nyota returned with a grin and breathy giggles.

She planted a loving kiss on Khan's lips before reluctantly letting him go and finding her feet so she could continue with her shower, this time, sharing the luxury.

Wrapped up in a towel, Nyota stood before the bathroom mirror, combing her hair out and inspecting her features. She was somewhat thinner than she remembered.

Noticing how she was caught up in her reflection, Khan pushed Nyota's wet hair off her shoulder and kissed her exposed skin. Hearing her laugh, his eyes darted up to the mirror to meet hers.

"I just washed that shoulder." She teased, pretending to scold him.

"Mm, I know." He hummed back, continuing to kiss her anyway.

She sighed, sinking into his touch and reached back to run her fingers through his towel-dried hair.

"So, are you going to tell me what's going on?" She murmured to him, his lips and tongue still grazing her shoulder and collarbone.

Resisting, Khan stopped kissing her and met her gaze again in the mirror.

"Over breakfast." He whispered in her ear, before kissing her cheek and leaving the bathroom.

xxxx

Nyota was soon lured out of the bathroom by the delicious smells coming from the apartment. Walking into the flat, she spied her love effortlessly moving about the little kitchen. She grinned to him as she passed, heading over to the wardrobe and finding some underwear and one of his plain Starfleet shirts to wear as a dress.

"You are just full of surprises, aren't you?" She smiled, approaching the kitchen and leaning over a countertop to observe him.

"I should hope so, else you'd find me boring." He returned.

"Not possible." She told him. "You could do nothing at all and I'd still find you captivating."

Khan's eyes flitted up to her from the food he was preparing and he smiled, almost bashful.

"Let me help you with something." Nyota began to move round into the kitchen.

"No, go and sit down. I can manage." He told her, gesturing at the table with his free hand.

Nyota watched a moment, seeing that he was perfectly capable. Even preparing something as simple as breakfast was done with his usual level of precision and order. Every little detail perfected and under his control.

She walked over to the dining table, where a fresh pot of coffee was sat waiting for her and sat down, pouring herself a cup. Sipping her drink, she smiled and looked out of the window before her. The sun was shining brightly over San Francisco and the view from this floor was incredible. Everything was perfect, blissful even. She took a breath and closed her eyes for a moment. Too perfect. No matter how much she wanted to ignore it, the little voice in the back of her head was telling her this bliss was going to end. Of course it was right, it would end, peace was a luxury herself and Khan rarely experienced.

Reopening her eyes, she found the table before her had transformed into a sea of food. Bacon, eggs, beans, toast, cereals, muesli, fresh fruit - the selection was plentiful. Khan placed a plate in front of her as he took his own seat opposite. Nyota eyed everything, suddenly starving.

"This is so good." She grinned, eating and spooning more things onto her plate. Khan smiled.

"Well, two years without food can certainly make you appreciate it."

"Two years?" Nyota stopped before the next forkful of food reached her mouth. "Its… 2263?"

Khan nodded, eating a bite of toast.

"Go slowly," He gestured at the food, "Real food may be a shock to your system. You'll want to eat a lot, but don't rush or you'll be ill."

She nodded, taking smaller mouthfuls and began staring at Khan, waiting for the promised information. He sighed, looking for a place to begin.

"I was awoken yesterday afternoon by General Wells, only six or so hours before I awoke you."

"Who's General Wells?" Nyota asked.

"He is an English Intelligence Officer, who I had the pleasure of meeting back in 2259 when Admiral Marcus first awoke me." Khan paused, reflecting. "He was kind to me when no one else was, but I felt certain Marcus had had him killed, so it was a surprise to see him again."

"He later told me what was going on - A new planet in the Laurentian System has been discovered - Orcus."

Nyota's eyes gleamed.

"Wow!" She was intrigued, to discover anew planet was rare. However the intrigue soon turned sour as she started to speculate why they had awoken Khan for this, considering everything that had happened before and his reputation.

"So what's wrong with it?" She caught on.

"Two-hundred Starfleet personnel lost their lives on the first expedition down to the planets surface, and no one can figure out why. There is nothing wrong with the biological or chemical aspects of the planet, so there must be something else there."

"And they want to send you down there so they don't lose anymore Starfleet personnel, don't they?" Nyota asked solemnly.

"That is the Admiral's intention, yes." He agreed, "But the Admiral is not directly in charge of the operation, General Wells is, and I suspect he was put in charge because they know he is the only person I am likely to trust, or listen to."

"Even so, Wells gave me the choice; asked me for my help because he needs my skill, and assured me he would not be sending me alone."

"So what did you agree?"

"Nothing, at that moment.. we were interrupted."

"Interrupted?"

"Yes, by the Vulcan of all people."

Nyota should have guessed by the thunderous look that fell over his features as he recalled the distraction.

"Though I suppose I must give him some form of credit," Khan thought aloud.

"Credit?" Nyota was surprised.

"As you would expect, we argued; but if we had not, if he hadn't appeared when he did, I would not have found out that you had been put into cryostasis." He said, "We were both lied to along with half of the Federation about our sentencing, save a few top officials and Spock, who saw you before you went into cryostasis."

Nyota thought back through those wretched days.

"I thought they had you killed."

"You were supposed to, as was I."

"So when I found out, I told the General that I would 'think on his request', and set out to find you… after another fight with that pointy-eared know it all." He muttered, digressing.

"Yet still, the most bitter part of it all came when I found out just where you were," Khan gazed at her a moment, "They had moved you to London and put you in the Vault with my crew, laying you right beside me for two unsuspecting years. So I travelled to London, broke in, stole you and beamed back here. I had to." He told her, "I need you with me."

A thoughtful smile played on Nyota's lips.

"So I'm not really supposed to be here, am I?"

"When are you ever _supposed _to be with me?" Khan sighed, reaching for her hand. "I told the General that I would help with their mission, so long as you and I could be together."

"I bet they love that idea."

"I've given them no choice. I help them with you at my side, or we run away for good. It's not impossible, but I'd rather not have to do the latter, for both our sakes. I don't want us to spend the rest of our lives looking over our shoulders, yet equally, I cannot live a life without you." Khan told her. He had gone over every option he could think of to keep Nyota with him, and he would invent a thousand new ones if it meant he would not lose her again.

"I love you." Nyota told him. "So much."

She got up from her seat, moved to the other side of the table and kissed him deeply.

"Thank you." She whispered, resting her forehead against his.

Khan gently pulled her onto his lap, encircled her in his arms and kissed her again.

"So, what happens now?" She asked after a comfortable pause.

"We wait for a confirmed response to my deal." He replied, "Until then, I suggest we enjoy our final moments of peace while we can."


	7. Chapter 7

The afternoon was hot, unnecessary clothing had been removed, and Nyota and Khan had happily resigned themselves to the comfort of their bed. Nyota was laying on her stomach in her underwear, PADD held in front of her face as she read information and articles, catching them both up with all the news of the past two years they had missed. Khan listened, offering an opinion or comment now and then, but was far more interested in the soft, kissable, dark skin that lay so elegantly before him. He lazily planted kisses on Nyota's exposed body; starting at the small of her back and trailing them up along her spine, whilst letting his fingers trace patterns on her skin. The sensations were unbelievably relaxing, lulling Nyota as she read contentedly.

The computer beeped out a message alert from across the room. The sound was harsh against the peace, and a rude interruption that quickly shook them both out of their languid states.

Khan groaned, his forehead resting on Nyota's back, he kissed the space between her shoulder blades before heavily lifting his head, his fringe tickling Nyota's skin as he looked over to the computer. Reluctantly, he hauled himself off of the bed and crossed to the machine, Nyota sat up to observe him, putting her PADD aside.

"What is it?" Nyota asked.

Khan opened the message, reading its brief contents.

"I have been summoned to a meeting at the Intelligence Base in fifteen minutes." He told her, "The General and the Admiral want to see me."

He shut off the comm and walked back towards her. Nyota got to her feet suddenly worried.

"What if this is a trap?" She blurted out. Khan wrapped his arms around her waist and she held his shoulders.

They hadn't been apart since Khan had awoken her yesterday. It may be an overreaction, but she was afraid of losing him again. Khan could see her fear reflected in her expression.

"It won't-," He stopped, he could not lie to her, "I do not know for certain what it will be, but it seems unlikely that it will be a trap. They would not gain anything by sabotaging us, and if they are serious about needing my help, they will not want to piss me off." He smiled, resting his forehead against hers. Nyota closed her eyes and sighed.

"Just be careful, okay?"

"Promise."

Planting a soft kiss on her lips, he released her from his embrace and found some clothing to pull on. Nyota followed him as he moved to the front door, brow crinkled and wringing her hands out with worry. Khan stopped in the door frame and turned to her.

"No worrying." He ordered her, kissing away the crinkle on her forehead. "I'll be back before you know it."

She smiled weakly up to him and he swiftly disappeared into the elevator opposite, taking him out of the apartment building.

xxxx

As the time passed by and Nyota waited for Khan to return, she found her mind drifting over every memory and thought that had occupied her before she was put into cryostasis. She thought back on her life, of the events of the war, being with Khan, her career and her family. Curled up on the sofa feeling suddenly cold, she had found a black satin robe to dress in, and made herself a cup of sweet tea.

She thought about her family and the things they must have been told by Starfleet, or the rumours they may have heard about their daughter, their sister, rebelling against the Fleet to be with a criminal. Nyota could only hope her mother received her message all those years ago and was strong enough, loved her enough, to not be swayed by other peoples judgements. She wondered what they might be doing or where they might be now, how their lives would have progressed without her. Nyota wished she could see them again.

The door alert chimed out through the silence, making Nyota jump out of her skin. She set her tea cup down on the little table in front of her and rose to her feet. Khan had been gone for nearly an hour now, but there was no way he would need to knock. She cautiously approached the door.

Entering the unlock code, the panel slid open to reveal Commander Spock.

They stood staring at one and other. Having been entirely lost in her thoughts and not fit for company other than Khan's, Nyota was truly unprepared for this meeting.

Spock could barely believe his eyes. He knew that Khan's intentions had been to get Nyota, but somehow, part of his brain had been convinced he would be stopped, that he would not get within one-hundred metres of the London Vaults without being recognised and taken out.

"I saw Khan a short time ago…" He began quietly, having to carefully align his thoughts. "He entered the base so I came to the conclusion that you would be here alone, if you were even here at all… which you indeed, are."

Nyota sighed heavily. Spock's presence was still bitter to her, she could not look at him without seeing all the trouble he had caused herself and Khan.

"What are you doing here, Spock?" She asked, quietly. He cleared his throat.

"I have come to see you."

"What makes you think that I want to see _you_?"

Spock sighed, his posture sagging slightly and expression shifted to a subtle plea.

"Please, Nyota. All I ask for is five minutes."

"If he comes back and finds you here." She warned him.

"I am aware of the varying and likely consequences."

He was holding her gaze now, dark eyes searching hers. Nyota exhaled and stepped aside, allowing him to enter the apartment.

"You look different to how I remember," Spock analysed her briefly, "Smaller, slightly underweight, even."

"Well that's what two years without movement or food can do to a human body." Nyota's reply was more venomous than intended, but she did not apologise for her tone.

"I did not fully believe Khan would get away with awakening you."

"Well perhaps you underestimate him."

"Or it may have been an overestimation of Starfleets ability to intervene that fell short." He added, "Either way, it does not mean that I am not pleased with the overall outcome."

Nyota folded her arms across her body and stared at him.

"I am pleased to see you again, Nyota, even if you were awoken through illegal means."

Nyota sighed, "What do you want, Spock?"

He thought a moment, looking over her form with a gaze he had once held only for her, with emotion shown in his face that would be barely noticeable to any other person, but was clear as cut glass to Nyota.

"Spock…" She whispered grudgingly to herself, not wanting to deal with this right now. He stepped a little closer to her.

"I must tell you that your absence has not been easy for me, and that over the past two years I have found it difficult on many occasions to accept what happened after the war."

"Because of you, Spock!" She snapped, "All because of _you._"

His expression faltered, and she regretted her outburst.

"I'm sor-" She started, but could not apologise, "I didn't mean to snap…"

"You have every right too." Spock was quiet, any enthusiasm for coming to see her now drained. "I just wanted you to know that I am still sorry for what happened, and that I have missed you." He sighed, "Whatever may happen now, I just hope you are safe, and do not have to endure such punishments again."

Nyota chewed her bottom lip, not knowing what to say, not wanting to say anything.

"Okay." She whispered, averting her gaze from his to a spot on the floor.

Spock waited a moment, hoping to get a little more acknowledgement for his display of remorse, but received none. Steeling himself, gave her a terse military nod, and left the apartment.

Nyota exhaled sharply as the door sealed shut, pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes.

xxxx

Another hour passed and anxiety was getting the better of her, on top of the disgruntled feeling that stirred in her stomach from her meeting with Spock, Nyota felt as if she could be sick.

The door flew open and Khan strode in, purposeful, yet holding back anger. His fists were clenched by his sides and brow furrowed, eyes darting around at nothing as he paced, occupied by his own thoughts.

Nyota watched him, relieved he had returned, but under what circumstances she was yet to discover. Both of their moods had been altered in the past few hours, leaving them to face an entirely new climate to deal with.

Khan huffed, coming to a stand still in the middle of the apartment and finally looked up at Nyota. His face was set, lips pressed into a hard line and eyes so deep in everything he had just been told that they could sink ships.

"They have taken my crew." He told her. Nyota felt her heart sink at the words.

"What? How?"

"I do not know, they would not tell me." His eyes fell away from hers, "All they have said is that they are gone."

Nyota had so many questions she wanted to ask, but from studying Khan's disconcerted expression she could see that asking them would be futile, for he looked as perplexed as she felt.

She gestured to the computer. "Can't you find out? Hack the system? They must have recorded it?"

"No." Khan shook his head, still staring into space. "Pointless; they only have one recorded file on the situation of my people and it is stored on the Admiral's personal PADD."

Nyota moved towards him, trying not to think the worst. She held her arms out to him.

"They won't have-"

"They might have." Khan's gaze shot up from the floor, stopping her in her tracks. His eyes were growing wild, tears beginning to pool and lines of anger threatening to overtake his expression.

Nyota sighed and rubbed a hand over her forehead, pushing thoughts of her encounter with Spock to the back of her mind. That would have to be dealt with later.

"Well maybe it's best not to think like that." She continued stepping closer to him again. "What happened, what did they say to you?"

Khan took a breath and turned to her, calmed by her presence. Nyota held his solemn face in her hands, and his own found their way to her satin covered waist.

"Talk to me." She whispered. "Tell me what's going on."


	8. Chapter 8

The Admiral had removed the remaining Vengeance crew from the London Vault. That was the only information he told to Khan, even when he had asked, pried, begged him to tell him that they were at least safe, no reassurance was given to him.

They were 'no longer any of his concern', 'out of his control', 'gone.' Just gone.

Khan ached as he poured out the details of his meeting to Nyota. He felt restricted, as if there was a giant blank space now occupying the part of his brain where information of his crew used to be stored.

"The Admiral's reason for taking them was so 'they wouldn't be a distraction to me.'" Khan told Nyota, sat with her on the large leather couch. "I am allowed to keep you, but that's it."

He huffed, exasperated, "'_Keep you__'__. _They treat me like a child, restricting me, acting as if the people I care about are no more than mere possessions!"

Nyota ran a hand through her hair as he vented to her. Khan took a breath.

"I am under their control once again…" He murmured, almost to himself.

"You are not under their control." Nyota argued.

"They have the perfect power over me; it would have been easier if they had told me they killed them all, just so I knew where I now stand, but to face the unknown…" He ran his hands through his hair, "They want me to have no choice but to assume my crew, our crew, are being held somewhere, still in stasis, to have hope for them so I will co-operate for their safety, to in-still a fear in me that if I turned against them there would be a chance they could come to harm."

Khan hanged his head in exhausted desperation, hands clasped at the back of his neck, Nyota had never seen him like this. Scooting up next to him on the couch, she rubbed a hand over the back of his shoulders. He was right, but he had been here before with the Federation and she couldn't see him go through it again. Touching her fingertips to his chin, she brought his face up to look at her. A tiredness had fallen upon him and darkness shrouded his eyes.

"Listen to me," She began quietly. Khan's hands found her legs and he gently drew circles on her thighs, his eyes glancing down to gaze at the patterns he was drawing before Nyota began to speak again.

"The way they treat you is inexcusable. They have no right to manipulate you like this; but it's time for you to rise above it." Khan's gaze found hers again. "You are lucky. You are alive, awake, I am here and you have been given a new opportunity. You have to show them that you don't need a motive to act to, that you can be better than them by using your skills in order to work on this new mission because it's worth it for the sake of discovery, and you don't need to be blackmailed with the people you love." She paused, "Yes, they have our crew, but only because they think it will give them leverage over you; now even though it might, you have to not let it show. Help them because _you can, _because your skills are the best and it has nothing to do with your people - it's more important right now."

Khan's eyes hardened and he drifted back from her a little.

"More important than the fate and the lives of my family?" He asked, his tone hardening. Nyota bit her lip.

"Right now, yes. Because what else can you do?" She said, not enjoying being tough about it. "You are the blind one here, you have to place some trust, even if its fake, into the Federation that they have not harmed your people. Look like you are playing along, but in all honesty, it might actually help if you did, if we both did."

Khan was eying her cautiously now. He said nothing, his expression made up of the thousand conflicting thoughts that occupied him.

"I don't think we should try and fight the Federation again, Khan." Nyota sighed, "Look where it got us last time! We are lucky, we have been awoken again, given another chance at living and the only way we are going to get to stay this way is if we all get along."

Nyota said her piece, she felt she had to. From her view, the safest way of looking at it, the best option for them both was to carry on; to do anything they could now to carry on living and invest a snippet of trust that the Federation would not be so cruel to the remaining crew of the Vengeance.

"Why are you saying this?" Khan asked after too long a pause, he didn't see it that way. His frame was ridged and hands had found their way back to his own lap. Nyota gazed into his cool eyes.

"Because I am tired of fighting, I don't want to go back into cryostasis, and I don't want to lose you again." Nyota stressed, inching closer to him with hands now on his neck, as if trying to reject his distancing body language.

"Do you not see how these people use me?" He asked, offering her no comfort.

"Of course I do, but there has to be another way to respond-?"

Khan stood up, leaving Nyota's hands to fall away from him. Her breath hitched as he paced away from the sofa.

"The only way they will stop using me and not harm my people is if I show them that I am not theirs to manipulate." He said, turning back to face her. "That I will not quietly follow their orders or play things their way. If they want my help, they get it on my terms this time, I will not follow orders fuelled by empty promises again."

He paused, standing for a moment and coldly analysed her.

"I do not expect you to understand…"

The words stung her, Nyota was hurt. She believed herself of all people to be someone who understood Khan, who empathised with the actions of his past and saw why he acted as he did. Khan's gaze had drifted away from her and he stared at a spot on the floor, occupied by his thoughts.

"How can you say that?" Nyota whispered harshly as she got to her feet and stepped toward him. "Of course I understand, all I mean is there has to be more options."

"Only options that let Starfleet walk all over me!" He returned, eyes flicking back up to meet hers and tone becoming vicious. "I will handle this my way, be that with or without you, Nyota. For the sake of all we have been forced to endure by Starfleet. It's up to you whose side you choose."

A message alert signalled on the computer before Nyota could respond. She was mildly grateful for the distraction because she could not gather her mind enough to form a proper reply, she was too stunned at Khan's sudden anger towards her, to hurt by his words and the way he removed his presence from her, drawing back to his cold, unyielding, defensive character to analyse her trust.

"The General wants to see you now." He told her plainly after reading the computer. "Perhaps he will help you make up your mind."

With a quick judgemental, drifting glance over her form, Khan pressed his lips into a hard line before making his way to the bathroom, allowing the door to lock shut behind him.

Nyota stood speechless. Moving quickly, she threw off her satin gown and roughly pulled on some standard Starfleet uniform, trying to suppress her emotions. If she did not move intentionally now she would either cry or scream with rage, neither of which her energy levels could accommodate for.

Scraping her hair up into a high, professional ponytail, she exited the apartment building and tried to ready herself for her first meeting with the General.


	9. Chapter 9

"Are you listening to me, Lieutenant?"

The General swam back into focus before her eyes. She cursed herself for letting her mind drift.

"Yes sir, sorry."

While she had been listening, her attention was not fully given. She picked up key points, 'Orcus', 'Away team', 'Your duties will be reinstated with Khan', 'Commencing in one week', 'No funny business'. The General continued.

"It was not our intention to wake you. That was all Khan's doing, but we figure if having you around will make him easier to work with, more at ease, then it won't do the mission any harm. But I am serious when I say there can be no unwarranted activity from either of you; there will not be any redeeming yourselves or second chances, you put a toe out of line and you're both back in stasis faster than you can say 'ulterior motive'."

Nyota swallowed thickly and nodded. Khan had undoubtedly been warned as well, so the fact that he still felt so strongly to act on his own terms was mildly concerning to say the least. He was upset about his family, and when he was upset he couldn't help but act on raw emotion-driven instinct. She hoped he was calming down back at the apartment and not out plotting.

"Khan will be mostly in charge of the away mission, along with a few senior officers aiding him, I imagine he will want to make you head of communications and transmissions, which will be just fine. Your performance reports in your field of expertise gleam." He offered her a small smile, which she returned.

Putting aside the PADD which he was reading from, he rest his forearms on the desk and analysed her a moment. It was mildly scrutinising, doubtful, almost pitying. Nyota had seen that look before, seen it on the faces of superior officers, guards and passing personnel who looked upon her with the knowledge of her relationship with Khan. Like many before him, Wells could not hide the wonder in his eyes at trying to figure out just how a highly credited Starfleet Communications Lieutenant such as herself wound up with a criminal and being put into cryostasis. Nyota forced herself to be still under his gaze, after all, it was none of his concern.

The General blinked himself out of his momentary fixation.

"A ship is being prepared and final mission plans drawn up, all will be ready for departure to Orcus on Monday morning. Information will be sent to your PADD by Friday at the latest and I will be meeting with Khan again a few times before the commencement of the expedition. I have also sent a copy of all accumulated information about Orcus to your PADD, so please, familiarise yourself with the details." He concluded, "Is there anything you'd like to ask me now, Lieutenant?"

Nyota began to shake her head, but stopped.

"Actually, there is one thing sir," She hesitated a moment, "What has happened to the remaining crew of the Vengeance?"

Wells inhaled a long breath and took his arms off his desk, leaning into the back of his chair.

"He talked to you about it then." He said, less of a question, more of a certainty.

"Of course he did, but he didn't have all that much to tell." She informed him, without wanting to give away any of their talk, or anything that would indicate Khan was reeling. "It is… disconcerting for him, for us both. Surely you understand?"

The General sighed and seemed to relax a little.

"What I could not tell Khan earlier in the presence of the Admiral was that it was not my decision." He told her, "The Admiral has taken his people, I had no say in any of it. So I hope any bad feeling he has is not directed at me."

Nyota tried not to huff. Khan's 'bad feeling' was currently directed at everyone. Wells was quiet a moment.

"Yes I understand, but you know I cannot tell you. No matter how much I might want to and believe me, I want Khan to know, I believe he should know. I believe the Admirals decision was wholly unnecessary to be completely honest." He said, running a hand through his sandy grey hair. "But I can't, because you'll talk to him."

Nyota watched him as him spoke, and little did the General know, he had told her more than enough. She pressed her lips together and got to her feet.

"I understand. Thank you anyway, General."

"If you need anything else before the mission starts, then do not hesitate to contact me, Uhura." Wells addressed her, standing up. "Otherwise, I will see you at the Intelligence Base shipyard at 0800 hours, Monday."

With a polite Military nod, she thanked him again and left his office.

Although she had no accurate answers, no confirmation for any of her thoughts or preconceived conclusions, the General's behaviour in his explanation of the Vengeance crew was highly suggestive of a negative outcome.

Fully distracted by her own thoughts, as Nyota walked the corridor and turned a corner, she crashed straight into another person. A PADD was dropped along with a communicator and a small scanner device. Apologising to the other crash victim, she quickly gathered the communicator and the scanner, straightening up to hand them back to their owner, who just happened to be the last person she wanted to see right now.

"Spock." She said, trying not to sound too surprised, or annoyed, or sound like anything. In fact, she wished she had said nothing so she could just be walking away right now.

"I have been informed that you are to be part of the away team to Orcus." He said, his voice had the slightest hint of what could only be described as happiness to a human, but Nyota did not focus on it for very long.

"You're coming t-?" She stopped herself from even finishing that sentence, of course he was coming. He was brilliant to Starfleet, not to mention their own free fountain of truth. She wondered if Khan knew of his assignment.

"Yes." Spock answered her unfinished question anyway. "I am part of the crew for the expedition."

"Does Khan know?" She asked, figuring she had nothing to lose.

"I do not believe he has had access to the crew list yet, as it remains incomplete." 

"But you have access to it?"

"I am creating it; as and when the General gives me the names of assigned personnel."

Nyota half rolled her eyes, opting to just close them completely.

"I was pleased to be able to update it with your name." He added, quietly watching her. She exhaled, now feeling more anxious than she had felt all day.

Not only had she unwillingly encountered Spock again, she had also learned of a rather likely unpleasant outcome for the crew of the Vengeance and was already in a fight with Khan. Now she had all this to tell him, and she still hadn't mentioned that Spock came to see her earlier this afternoon. She sure hoped Khan had had time to calm down a little. Nyota realised she had been quiet for a long moment.

"I'm sorry, but I really have to go." She said, rubbing a hand over her forehead and quickly walking past him.

xxxx

Khan was sat shirtless on the floor, legs crossed, facing the wall of windows that provided the only natural light to the studio apartment. Nyota stepped into the room, the door swishing shut behind her, but he did not stir.

Watching him carefully, she gathered her thoughts and slowly walked around to his right side.

The air was still, the apartment just as she had left it, and Khan oddly serene. His hands were relaxed in his lap, posture perfect, eyes closed and face tilted toward the stream of late afternoon sunlight pouring through the glass. Even as she stood next to him, he did not awaken from his meditative state.

His outwardly calm state did not put her mind at ease. She had braced herself to come home to a half trashed apartment, littered with the workings and plots of a man with a plan of attack - but Khan wasn't like that. His stillness scared her more than any chaos ever could, because that was his version of chaos; meditation was Khan's way of constructing a clear plan.

She wanted to say something, but didn't know where to begin, and the memory of the cold look he gave her before she left was stopping her. As the quiet seconds ticked past, the tension of not knowing if he was still angry and plotting was killing her, and seemed more and more likely as he did not acknowledged her presence. She sighed quietly, walking over to the bed to pick up her PADD from the nightstand and distract herself with the details of Orcus the General had sent her. She might have important things to tell him, but she was not going to let the information fall of deaf ears if he was giving her the silent treatment.

She picked up her device and turned back around to sit on the bed, startled to find Khan had moved and was now stood in front of her. She gasped, stilling herself and wondering how he had moved so silently. He was failing to suppress a smirk from making her jump. Nyota met his gaze, he did not look angry at her anymore, but she was still hurt. She looked down at her PADD.

"I am sorry, Nyota." Khan said after a moment of quiet. "I have realised that whilst what the Federation has done is entirely unfair, you are right. It's time to rise above them without jeopardising ourselves any further."

She listened, but still could not look at him without remembering how quickly he withdrew his affections from her. Khan knew she was still upset with him, so gently ran his fingers down her forearms to her hands, entwining his fingers with hers and stepping a little closer.

"I have also realised that parting from you on a fight like that was more distressing to endure than the unknown whereabouts of my crew, and that I cannot do anything that would mean losing you again." He paused, and Nyota could meet his gaze again, "I hate how I reacted to your words, and how I pushed you away when you are the only person I truly cannot afford to lose. I love you. Please, forgive me."

"Of course I forgive you." Nyota whispered after a moment, untangling their fingers and reaching up to his shoulders to embrace him. She pulled away. "But don't you ever doubt my empathy and understanding for you ever again, understand?" She asked him squarely, he smiled.

"I understand." Khan tightened his arms around her, tilting his head to meet her lips with a reconciling kiss, knowing he was lucky to have her with him.

"How was your first meeting with General Wells?" He asked, breaking their kiss but refusing to let her go from his embrace, thinking he may never want to let her go again.

"Fairly standard." She began, "He told me about the planet, that my duties will be reinstated and that I am going to be going with you. He also said-"

"'No funny business.'" Khan finished her sentence.

"Yeah." Nyota let out a laugh. "Seriously though, we can't afford it."

"I know. My love for you outweighs any anger I can hold toward the Federation. You keep me focused."

"I love you." She digressed, fingers in the soft hair at the nape of his neck. "There were some other things." She continued, feeling a dread begin to wash over her, she reluctantly let him go. "Do you want the bad news or the worst news?"

Khan chewed his lip in thought. "Start with the worst."

Nyota took a breath.

"I have nothing confirmed, its just an assumption based on some feelings and what I perceived from the General as he spoke; but I asked him about the Vengeance Crew." She paused, watching Khan's expression grow anxious. "I think there's a chance they may no longer be alive."

Khan slowly sighed, letting the idea sink in, fists now clenched at his sides.

"He didn't say anything for certain; he told me he couldn't tell me anything, even though he did want to, he wants you to know - it was just the way he was explaining. It did not sound very positive. I could be completely wrong, but I just wanted to tell you what I felt."

Shutting his eyes, Khan was quiet, expression plain until he spoke out.

"Alright." He said calmly, refocusing on her. "I do not like it, but we _will_ find out for sure eventually. What's the other bad news?"

"I ran into Spock today. Twice." She grimaced. "The second time, quite literally. The first, he came to the apartment when you were out earlier this afternoon."

"Of course he did." Khan ran his hands through his hair, exasperated. "He probably saw me enter the Intelligence Base and assumed you'd be alone here."

"Yeah, he did." She confirmed. "He didn't stay long, I was not fit to see him and completely unprepared. All he did was try to apologise again, but I can't forgive him, I just can't." It exhausted her, "I may have yelled at him though."

Khan smirked.

"But then I collided with him leaving the Intelligence Base, and I found out something else you're not going to like." She braced herself, Khan waited intently. "Spock is part of the crew for the mission. He'll be coming with us to Orcus."

"Well that much I had figured out." Khan replied, to Nyota's surprise. "It was fairly obvious when I encountered him the first time I was on the Intelligence Base. Why else would he be there if he was not involved with the mission? He is the darling of Starfleet so of course he is coming."

"That's what I thought, too." Nyota relaxed a little, "So you're not mad about him coming? About all my bad news?"

"It will be frustrating to be in his presence, but even I cannot deny that he is smart. His professionalism will be useful to the mission. If he has any sense, he will not engage with me more than he has to." Khan replied, falling onto the bed next to him. "As for our family…" He sighed, going silent and staring up at the ceiling.

Nyota crawled onto the bed, laying beside him. "I know…" She whispered, leaning over and kissing him, he cuddled her into his chest. "We will find out the truth."


	10. Chapter 10

Orcus was beautiful.

It was hard to believe that two hundred Starfleet personnel had lost their lives here, or that there was something residing on the planets surface that was capable of killing.

Nyota stood next to Khan on the bridge, hand on his shoulder, as he sat in his Captain's chair on a new ship with a new crew. Each persons gaze was fixed on the view screen as footage of the planets surface was relayed to the ship from the observation craft that had been sent down. As the little remotely controlled craft descended into the planets atmosphere through the clouds, it revealed the lush landscapes of a forest planet, balanced with green fields and wild flowers, hills and cliffs, and several bodies of water. No one had been entirely sure of what to expect, but it certainly wasn't the magnificent paradise that was displayed before them. As they stared, awestruck, each person could silently agree that 'Orcus' seemed like completely the wrong name…

xxxx

"Darling…" Khan's soft, velvety tone roused Nyota from her sleep. She could feel his thumb caressing her cheek as she opened her eyes. "It's 6am, my love." He told her, crouched beside the bed, watching her lovingly.

He kissed her forehead as he stood up. Nyota smiled and stretched out, propping herself up on her elbows and watching Khan as he walked over to the apartments computer. He was already dressed and busing himself. It was Monday; expedition commencement day.

The past seven days had been busy with preparation; Khan had met a few times with General Wells and the Admiral for tactical planning, and with groups of appointed members of the away team to brief them, which, much to Nyota's pleasant surprise, included Kirk, Bones and Scotty from the Enterprise. Uhura had been re-training herself; putting the weight back on that she had lost in cryostasis, and working out for a few hours each day to build up her muscle mass. She was not one-hundred percent back to normal, but a weeks worth of discipline and determination had made vast improvements to her body and overall feeling of health.

"Did you get any sleep last night?" Nyota asked, rubbing her eyes and forcing herself out of the warm bed.

"I got enough." Khan replied, trying to hide a yawn from her.

Nyota smiled and shook her head as she walked over to the kitchen and poured two large mugs of coffee, taking one over to Khan.

"I don't believe you." She whispered to him, passing him the mug and planting a lingering kiss on his lips, Khan smiled.

Having showered, dressed, eaten as much food as she could and stolen some of Khan's, Nyota grabbed her PADD and a small bag of things, and made her way out of the apartment with him. They walked the short distance to the Intelligence Base Shipyard hand-in-hand. Nyota smiled to herself; for the first time ever, they didn't have to hide from anyone. It was freeing.

0800 hours and the shipyard was abuzz. Twenty shuttles littered the dockyard, and ground crew members worked around them like ants; fitting them out, making final adjustments, testing engines and ensuring they were ready to transport the two-hundred mission personnel up to the new ship at the Starship Base.

Curious personnel glanced at them as they walked through the yard together, but Nyota did not care, she was too excited by the activity and to go up into space again, explore a new world. Spotting the General, they approached him. Wells was conversing with some ground crew, but swiftly ordered them back to their duties.

"Khan, Lieutenant." He addressed them both, PADD in his hand. "Your crew are beginning to arrive and are checking in with Commander Spock, departure is in an hour, are you both set?"

"Absolutely, General." Khan replied. The General nodded.

"You're getting the newest ship in the Fleet - the USS Entrada. She's smaller than the Vengeance is, and not even quite as big as the standard Federation ships, but she has been designed for stealth, utility and accommodation." The General informed them, bringing up images and specifications on his PADD.

"Weaponry is above average standard, and her speed is well advanced of any of the Dreadnought classes."

The USS Entrada was an elegant looking ship, sleek and aerodynamic with a deep hull and large bridge, wrapped up in a compact yet agile-looking design. Wells fingers danced over the PADD screen as he sent the information on to Khan's device.

"Any further details you need will be there for your viewing, but the ships design will be nothing any of you are unfamiliar with." He concluded, tucking his device under his arm. "Good luck out there. May you discover everything there is to know about Orcus, and find whatever it is that was responsible for ending two-hundred lives." He extended a hand out to Khan. "Be safe; let us know of your departure from the Space Dock and I'll raise a glass for the Entrada's maiden voyage for you."

"Thank you, Sir." Khan smiled, shaking his hand.

"Lieutenant." Wells addressed Nyota and she saluted him.

The General left them to resume his work for their departure. Nyota turned to Khan and grinned, wrapping an arm around his waist and cuddling into him.

"I know it's going to be dangerous, but I can't help feeling excited!"

Khan returned her smile and embrace, "I know, me too." He released her, taking her hand again, "Come on, time to check in."

xxxx

The USS Entrada received much admiration from its new crew. Upon arrival to the ship, Khan gave his crew an hour for set up and preparation - the ship was already prepped and purring, so sixty-minutes would be more than enough time for the final checks to take place, and for everyone to sort their designated quarters and find their station.

On the bridge, the layout was the standard, only larger. The helm, subspace defence, science, communications and environmental stations all had room for an extra person. An eager looking Lieutenant sat in the chair next to Uhura's at communications, she rose from her seat as Nyota approached.

"I'm Lieutenant Keats." She said, "Your second in command."

Nyota smiled and greeted her, an extra pair of ears will always be useful to communications, in fact on a mission like this into unknown and hostile territory, as many pairs of everything will be useful. Taking a quick look around, Nyota spied two familiar faces; Spock as head of science - predictably - and Kirk, hovering over the first officer's command station.

Kirk spotted her and a grin spread across his face. He shot across the bridge, immediately hugging her whether she liked it or not.

"It's so good to see you!" He beamed and she couldn't help but return it.

The last time she saw Jim Kirk was before the Vengeance had landed back on earth, during Khan and Spock's last argument. They may not have parted on the best of terms, but she had no troubles with Kirk, after all, it was not him who filed the report, or even commented on her continuing relationship.

"How have you landed as first officer?" She asked, happy to see his ridiculous face again.

"How could I not?" He puffed up with his usual charming vanity. "Something to do with me actually being good at my job! Oh, and to stop the girls from fighting each other." He added, gesturing to Spock and the currently empty Captain's chair. Nyota laughed and rolled her eyes, unsure whether he was joking or not, but suspected an element of truth in it.

"Well, it's good to see you again too." She added, and Kirk return to his station.

Khan strode in from the turbo lift, statuesque and radiating confidence. Nyota loved to see him working in his element; organising, planning, commanding and ordering - he really was an unparalleled leader.

"Right then." He stood in front of his chair, briefly surveying the room. "Status, helmsmen?"

"Flight checks are complete and we are ready for take off, Captain." A pilot replied.

Uhura sent out the various departure transmissions to the Space dock and Starfleet, and a personal transmission to General Wells.

"Departure transmissions have been sent, Sir, including communication to General Wells." She informed Khan.

"Thank you, Lieutenant." He said, taking his seat and activating a button on his arm rest.

"USS Entrada crew, prepare for take off."

xxxx

It took six minutes to get to the Laurentian system, and a further two to locate Orcus and settle the ship in a close and safe position above the planet. To prevent the same devastating occurrence twice, the USS Entrada had been supplied with a few observation crafts - small vessels mounted with several cameras that could be piloted remotely from the safety of the ship, and relay and record footage back to the bridge.

The land was breath taking. No one knew what to think as they viewed the footage and images coming up on the view screen, but it was difficult to imagine any form of hostility living here that could have taken all those lives.

Nyota swallowed thickly and squeezed Khan's shoulder. The majesty of this world made the thought suddenly more terrifying.


	11. Chapter 11

"All due respect, Captain, but what exactly are we waiting for?"

Jim Kirk tried not to fidget on the bridge as he stood by Khan who busily analysed one of the first planet surface readings. Khan side-eyed Kirk briefly, frowning as he turned his attention to him.

"You do know what happened here the first time, don't you?"

"Of course I do! Which is why we shouldn't be wasting time in getting down there and finding out _why_ it happened."

"Time is not something we are short of, Commander, and whilst I appreciate the enthusiasm, I am in command of this mission to ensure the same thing does not happen twice." Khan told him, re-focusing on the data in front of him. "Diving straight onto the planet's surface is what got the last away team killed; we must employ a different method of exploration until we have enough evidence to go down there confidently. So, we will let the observation crafts and scanners do the work on the surface for now." He concluded.

Kirk opened his mouth, about to protest again but Khan spoke before he could.

"Don't you have some data you should be monitoring?"

"Yes Captain." Kirk said quietly, resigning himself to an afternoon of analytical work. He'd have to find another way to relieve some energy later.

Orcus positively hummed with different frequencies and sounds. A smile set across Uhura's face as her fingers worked her control station, channeling and recording and analysing each of the different waves of sound she could pinpoint. She monitored the planet's subsurface, the atmosphere, and the various frequencies being sent to her from the scanners and obs.

She glanced over to her second in command, who also had a smile on her face. Not that she was overwhelmed, but Nyota was grateful for the extra pair of ears considering the amount of data they were picking up.

Absorbed in the work, Nyota barely noticed Khan as he stood looking up at the screens above her station, PADD in hand, comparing frequencies to data.

"What are you finding, Lieutenant?" He asked.

Nyota couldn't stop excitement from creeping into her voice. "There is so much to hear and decipher, it's incredible! The energy and frequency waves I am receiving from the planets subsurface are like nothing I have ever heard before!"

Khan enjoyed seeing her work and her skill, how her expression settled with a contented smile and a small forehead crinkle of concentration. The way her hands worked over her controls was almost hypnotic, so precise and controlled.

"I shall await to hear what you discover from them." Khan smiled, watching her a moment more before returning to his work.

xxxx

As the alpha shift came to an end, the reported findings for the expeditions first day were substantial. Khan was pleased and seemed genuinely impressed with the workings of the Federation crew. Nyota had been a little worried that he would harshly compare the Entrada crew to that of his own, but he had not. She had also been worried about the crews reaction to Khan and herself; if they would behave any differently around them, or show any prejudices toward them. Although no one had so far, it was still only day one of the mission.

"Uhura!" Kirk appeared next to her station where she was recording just one last frequency. "Shifts up, time for drinks!"

She finished recording and stood up, removing her earpiece and briefly looking around; a new lieutenant came and took over her post for the next shift, Spock was the only other alpha shift crewman on the bridge and Khan was nowhere to be seen.

"Come on, first round's on me. There's an extra large Cardassian Sunrise with your name on it!"

"Thanks, but no thanks." She smiled at Jim, "I wanna be fresh for tomorrow! You should be too, so go easy, okay?"

Jim tutted and rolled his eyes, still wearing his trademark grin.

"Fine… but I'm not promising anything." He winked at her and headed across the bridge to badger Spock.

Nyota watched. Spock still sat engrossed in something at his station. His professionalism served him well, he had been easy to work with today. Even collaborating with Khan, an outsiders eye would never have suspected any feud between them. She sighed, for the first time since knowing him she was grateful of his Vulcan abilities to purge himself of emotion. Nyota did not stay to see if Kirk would successfully coax Spock to a drink, instead, she turned for the turbo lift and descended the floors to the senior officers quarters.

Several other officers passed Nyota as she approached the Captain's quarters she shared with Khan and entered the unlock code. She smiled to herself; it may have been a little shallow, but she couldn't deny that she got a kick out of not hiding her relationship with Khan. Everyone knew and she wanted them to know, she wanted them to know that she loved him, and that they could not be crushed by the Federation or anyone else's attempts to bring them down.

The spacious quarters were empty of life. Nyota sighed, she knew Khan would be busy, yet so desperately wanted to see him. Her work may come in shifts, but a Captain's shift never really ended when in command of a vessel. Nyota loosened her ponytail, letting her hair cascade around her shoulders, and changed out of her uniform into a plain t-shirt of Khan's. Her plan for now was to study the days findings in preparation for tomorrow.

Khan strode in just over an hour later. He smiled, pushing a hand through his hair, at the comfortable sight of Nyota laid out on her back in the middle of the bed, researching. She grinned up at him, cast her device aside, and rolled off the bed, slinking over to him like a cat and wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Hello." Nyota purred, kissing him lovingly. Khan's hands found their way down her back. She hummed, breaking their kiss. "You taste like whiskey." She noticed, smiling. The rich flavour and dark tone of it suited him perfectly.

"Kirk was getting the round, so I thought I'd indulge." He returned.

"Oh you did? Bad Captain, drinking on the job… I might have to make sure you're sober enough for your duties tomorrow." She teased him, fingers sneaking up the hem of his shirt, feeling the muscle beneath.

Khan smiled and quickly yanked his top off over his head, throwing it across the room and picked Nyota off her feet. She giggled as he carried her over to the bed, sitting down on the end of the mattress allowing her to straddle his lap. Nyota wasted no time in kissing him, nibbling his bottom lip while tangling her fingers in his hair, making him moan. She worked along his jawline and down his neck, biting and sucking a pattern as she made her way down his torso, forcing him to lean back on his elbows.

Khan watched with desire as Nyota grinned devilishly and sunk to her knees, removing his boots and the last of his clothing before dragging her nails torturously slowly up his thighs, and taking him in her mouth. He closed his eyes, sinking back onto the bed. Nyota loved to pleasure him like this; reducing Khan to a panting, groaning, sheet-grasping mess with just the use of her tongue and hands. It was definitely a turn on to know she was the only one who could dominate the indomitable man. She altered her rhythms, not allowing him a simple climax and relishing in watching him become more impatient and undone from her touch. Feeling him tensing again, she worked harder, watching his back arch, head press into the bed and fists ball up the sheets as he cried out with his release.

A sultry smile graced Nyota's expression as she crawled back onto the bed and straddled his hips. She watched him laid out beneath her; hair a mess, chest rising and falling with lips parted, still breathing hard as he came down from his high. His electric blue eyes roamed her body.

"You look so sexy right now." Nyota told him.

He smiled and she bit her lip, crossed her arms over her body and removed her t-shirt. She slowly rocked her hips against him as her nimble fingers unclasped her bra and the lingerie slid down her arms to be thrown aside. Khan sat up, lips immediately finding her neck and making their way to her breasts as she circled him still. Grabbing her slender frame, Khan flipped her over onto her back and continued kissing and biting her soft flesh, enjoying her lust-filled sighs as he took control of her pleasure. His fingers hooked the edge of her underwear and tugged the lace down her legs, granting his tongue access to tease her, to slowly bring her to a shuddering, breathless, moaning climax. He admired her pleasured body as he kissed his way back up her sensitive skin to her lips. Hovering over her and taking her face in his hands, he kissed her deeply as he began making love to her.

Khan left no part of her untouched, loving every inch of her. Nyota cherished every part of him, every second of their love as she always had. She adored the weight of him, the heat of his body against hers, every sound he made and how he gave himself to her completely; and in return, she would lose herself with him. Nyota changed their position again, riding him as he kissed her hungrily, his fingers tearing down her back as she felt herself tensing with him; bodies moving in perfect rhythm and finally climaxing together. She rode out their waves, fingers tangled in his hair and both crying out with pleasure as Khan fell back onto the bed, taking Nyota with him.

Nyota could barely catch her breath. Her legs trembled as she lay on top of Khan, feeling his chest rising and falling. She laughed with bliss, kissing him lazily.

"Definitely. Sober." Khan breathed, laughing with her as she rolled off of him.

"I know." Nyota breathed between giggles, not that he had even been drunk to begin with.

Goosebumps rose on Nyota's skin as her body started readjusting. She cuddled in next to Khan who sat up slightly, leaning against the pillows, and pulled the covers up around them. He kissed her softly, wrapping his arms around her.

Nyota rest her head against his shoulder, enjoying a comfortable moment of silence with him.

"You and I should go on holiday one day." Khan mused after a minutes quiet. Nyota smiled, turning to look up at him. His eyes were soft and unfocused, fingers tracing a pattern in her skin as he was caught up in his own thoughts. "Somewhere off planet and warm, with water to swim in. Away from everything."

"I'd like that." She whispered, watching his calm visage and trying to picture what he was picturing. "Very much."

xxxx

The door alert to their quarters began beeping frantically.

Nyota stirred at the sound; the noise of it paired with the shift in the bed as Khan released her from his embrace and got up woke her from her sleep.

"Alright!" Khan groaned at the frenetic intruder as he pulled on a pair of sweatpants and answered the door. It was 06:05am, and Jim Kirk stepped into the quarters, already fully dressed with his PADD in hand.

"Do you _know_ what time it is?" Khan grumbled.

Nyota propped herself up a little to see the intruder, pulling the blankets up higher around.

"I know, Captain." Kirk's eyes quickly darted over Nyota as she watched him sleepily. "Sorry for the intrusion, but I have found something that everyone's gonna want to see."

Khan eyed him a moment. "Go to the bridge. I will assemble the senior officers and personnel and be there myself in two minutes."

"Yes sir." Kirk nodded, leaving as quickly as he appeared.

Nyota sprawled back out in bed, comfortable, as Khan spoke out to the rooms comm.

"Computer; tell all senior personnel and crew to report to the bridge immediately."

It beeped at the request. Khan made his way over to the bed and leaned over Nyota, who had closed her eyes to try and sleep again.

"That means you too, Lieutenant." He ordered her softly, planting a kiss on her lips.

Nyota opened her eyes, stretched and hauled herself out of bed to find her uniform.

On the bridge, Kirk was busy setting up his findings on the view screen as personnel filed in and found their stations, and a good view of the screen. Nyota watched Kirk; he looked focused, almost to the point of wired and she wondered if he had actually gotten any sleep last night. Khan was stood in the centre of the room, reading the data before him and waiting patiently for the last people to arrive on deck. Nyota engaged her earpiece and oddly, heard nothing. She frowned and engaged her comm, resetting and tuning her station to the crafts on Orcus, but still hearing nothing. Leaving her seat she turned toward Khan.

"Captain, I can't hear anything." She told him, "All comms to the planet's surface are down."

"Yeah, and I think I can tell you why." Kirk answered her confusion.

Everyone waited eagerly for an explanation as to why they had been awoken so early. Kirk began at an enthusiastic pace.

"So I couldn't sleep much last night and decided to engage with one of the observation crafts from my PADD to see what was going on. It was running and recording fairly quietly, doing its job when suddenly…"

Kirk paused, bringing up a video on the view screen and playing it. It looked normal, recording as it roamed across a track near some rocks and trees, pinpointing biological structures and taking readings when, fast as lightening, something dived out from the trees and struck the device, cutting its signal. Half the bridge were startled, Kirk spoke out again.

"I then checked all the other crafts and scanners we sent down to the surface," He said, bringing several more videos up on the screen, "And each one was taken out, within minutes of each other." The videos played and data frequency streams ran, all for a few seconds before being abruptly cut off, just like the first one.

"Something's taken out _all _of our devices." Kirk concluded.

"That's impossible laddie!" An astounded Scotty aired, "There are scanners and observations all over the damn planet, it cannae taken out_ every one_ of them!"

"The speed at which they each fail makes it unlikely that they all succumbed to the same thing within that short space of time, considering the distance between them. Perhaps we have had a system malfunction?" Spock interjected.

"No, if it had all malfunctioned, the ship would have been alerted, the stations and comms would be going nuts." Kirk told the room. "The devices are dead, and at my guess, have been completely destroyed."


	12. Chapter 12

All anyone could make out of the thing that destroyed the crafts was a black smudge. Even breaking down the footage, enhancing it, restoring it - no details were discernible of the culprit.

"Captain," Spock addressed Khan quietly as he approached him on the bridge. "I believe it would be logical to consider the likely possibility that whatever this being is, it is also responsible for the deaths of the Starfleet officers."

"Yes. I have entertained this idea myself." Khan agreed with him. "Lieutenant," He called out to his navigation officer. "How are our back up crafts coming along?" Khan observed the screen, watching two counters tick down. The Entrada had a few back up observations and scanners aboard which were cautiously being deployed by the pilots.

"Eighteen-hundred metres to the surface, Captain." The Lieutenant replied.

One observation and one scanner touched down on the planets surface, not far from the sight of the first observation device that had ceased to function. Footage relayed from the obs, tracking the ground and the foliage, yet it all looked undisturbed and as beautiful as before. Khan watched closely, peering at every detail to try and find an anomaly.

"Communications?" He asked, eyes not leaving the screen.

As Nyota engaged the scanner, the on-screen frequency lines spiked and dipped violently. She jumped at the overload of sounds she received. Nyota's outburst had turned Khan's and the rest of the bridge crews attention from the screen.

"Lieutenant?" He was concerned. Nyota and her second in command, Lieutenant Keats, worked their stations frantically, grimacing through the sounds rushing in their earpieces to try and quell the onslaught of frequencies. After a long minute without success, Nyota gave in, half deafened by the noise, and tore her earpiece from her ear.

"I can't make out anything!" She stood up from her comm rubbing her temples, her senses slightly numbed, and stared past the concerned faces of Khan and Spock to the view screen, watching the jagged frequency line surge. Her second in command had joined her, looking just as noise-fogged as she felt. Nyota blew out a sharp breath and turned back to her comm, making one last attempt to steady the frequencies, but failed.

Studying the manic levels, she addressed her crew members again.

"I have never seen this amount of data before." She shook her head, searching for an answer, "The only thing it would compare to would be if you set up an open channel and tried to monitor _every single_ communications frequency on earth." She thought on her comparison a moment, looking at the data again. "The structure of the frequency has changed from what I was analysing yesterday. It has similarities to that of extensive data sharing, but there is no way I can distinguish what it is, or what's sharing it; not from here, not with only one scanner picking up everything."

Attentions turned back to the view screen and the live stream of footage. Khan's eyes locked with Nyota's, silently asking her if she was alright. She nodded subtly, stepping forward to the middle of the bridge with her earpiece in her hand, holding it near her ear as she distantly listened to it.

Khan had made no comment on the situation yet and Kirk was getting twitchy at the lack of immediate action. The observation device alerted them to an unnatural mass approximately five metres ahead of them. As it approached the target, small shards of metal and bits of wire littered the ground, leading up to a pile of destroyed observation craft.

"Crushed to shit." Kirk gaped as the wreckage was surveyed by the new craft.

"M' poor wee device," Scotty said glumly, "I wonder if the others look like that."

The cacophony of sound from the earpiece cut off abruptly, drawing Nyota's attention away from the view screen. It was as if someone had flipped a switch.

"Captain, the frequencies have gone." She announced, striding back to her comm, just as the data lines on the screen from the scanner cut off. "It's dead."

"Keep the observation craft still." Khan immediately told the pilot who remotely controlled it.

The view of the live stream was set as the device looked straight ahead. The trees swayed gently in the breeze and everything was calm.

"Turn the camera 360 degrees. Slowly." Khan ordered and the image began to move.

Eyes remained glued to the screen, each person tense with anticipation of seeing whatever it was that had just cut out another one of their devices. The camera re-reached its point and had shown them nothing - just the surrounding trees and track littered with shards of craft.

"This is useless; we're half blind here! We're just playing cat and mouse with that thing!" Kirk insinuated. The image was still again.

"Yes, I think we may well be." Khan stated. "Which is interesting in itself, is it not?" He posed, still watching the screen, when all at once, the live stream cut out and the view screen showed them no data.

"Interesting?" Kirk returned, "Annoying more like. We have nothing, we've made no concrete discovery, and we don't know anything about what that is."

"Quite the contrary, Commander." Khan opposed. "We are obviously dealing with an intelligent life on some level, for it's ability to play 'cat and mouse', as you put it, would suggest there is some form of learning going on."

"This thing has had to observe our devices over the past twenty-four hours and, to some degree, figure out what they are doing before making a decision whether to attack or not. Also, the way the other devices were destroyed at roughly the same time signifies there is most likely more than one of these beings, and the uniformity in which the destructions were executed indicates collaboration. Plus, along with the rather telling fact that the crafts have been destroyed at all, shows that our intrusion is obviously unwelcome, and that we are dealing with something that defers to hostile behaviour."

"I'd say we have a fair amount to be getting on with." Khan concluded. "The next step is putting together a clear picture of exactly _what _this being is."

"So that means going down there?"

"Correct, Mr. Kirk. Advanced technology is no longer our best approach."

xxxx

Khan wasted no time in assembling an away team. The Alpha shift had begun aboard the ship and all designated personnel manned their stations. Leaving Spock in command of the USS Entrada, Nyota found herself included along with Kirk, Scotty and a half dozen away team members to be beamed down to the planets surface. Armed with a phaser and dressed in her sturdiest away gear, Nyota took a spot on the transporter pad next to Khan and the others, watching the familiarity of the ship fizzle out to the picturesque landscape of trees.

The team had been beamed to a location equidistant from two of the craft wreckages. Khan ordered them to split up, sending two engineers, a science officer and two command officers to one wreckage, whilst the rest of them examined the other.

"Stay vigilant." Khan ordered, "You get in trouble, you contact the Entrada and beam back immediately."

Walking to the wreckage with Khan, Kirk, Scotty and an additional science lieutenant, Nyota engaged her scanner and the earpiece she had brought with her to study the frequencies for herself. As everyone else held their own guard, Khan flanked her closely, being alert for the both of them while she was preoccupied with her research.

"The frequency is clearer here, I am picking up one individually." She said, announcing it to the ship as well as her present crewmen. "Spock, I'm sending the pattern through to Keats now."

"_Thank you Lieutenant, received. It is on screen.__" _

Following the shards of metal, they soon found a destroyed craft.

"Would'ya look at this wreck?" Scotty crouched down, picking up parts of craft and tutting to himself. He got to work scanning different parts and the science lieutenant joined him, looking for any evidence or residue that would be useful in deciphering the being that was responsible.

Nyota frowned as they researched, ignoring her surroundings and the others analysis as she watched and listened to her frequency dipping and changing as she moved.

"It's abnormally hard to pinpoint the source." She pondered, turning on the spot and holding her device at different angles. "It's like there's more than one for the same frequency."

Khan and Kirk intermittently watched her as they guarded the surroundings. Nyota walked around them, passing a near by tree.

"Whoa!" She startled at the device as it spiked, stopping dead in her tracks. Khan got to her side.

"Lieutenant?" He asked, Nyota stuttered.

"Y-yeah, hang on…" She turned on the spot, engrossed, and slowly paced back over where she had been walking, passing the tree again and picking up the same spike. Frowning, she turned to the tree and held the device up to the bark.

The device went nuts.

"_Lieutenant; what is your position?__" _Spock's voice questioned her, _"__We are receiving strong activity.__"_

"A tree."

"_Lieutenant?__"_

"I am literally holding my scanner up to a tree."

"_Fascinating.__"_

Nyota laughed as she scanned as much of the bark as she could reach.

"I hope you're getting all this Lieutenant Keats!"

"_Affirmative Uhura!__" _An enthusiastic voice replied.

Nyota smiled. It was good to be making some progress after earlier's mess at her comm station, even if she hadn't yet figured out exactly what this frequency was or why it was sourced at this tree of all things, it was exciting to have found something she could later analyse on the Entrada. Khan stood observing the surroundings. He examined the ground around the pieces of wrecked craft and the shrubs nearby, looking for any signs of how the attacker jumped on the device. He glanced over to Kirk, who was peering up into the trees and shuffling around.

"Kirk, is something wrong?" Khan asked him, stepping towards him and looking up.

"Uh, yeah, I… I don't know." He paused, "I just feel like we're being watched."

Khan stood perfectly still next to him, looking up into the tree Nyota was quietly scanning.

"That might be because we are." He spoke slowly. Kirk quickly followed his eye line to see what Khan saw. "Everyone stop." Khan ordered and the lieutenants looked over at him, his eyes transfixed on the huge black shape that sat in the branches mere metres above Uhura. A large green eye was watching them carefully, half cloaked behind the leaves of the trees.

"Nyota," Khan controlled his voice, but he was now scared for her life. She met his gaze and removed her earpiece, unaware of what sat above her but concerned at the tone of his voice and the fact that he had called her Nyota during their working hours.

"Do not move. Stay perfectly still."

"Why?" Nyota's eyes widened and she felt herself seize up.

"Just-!" Khan tried not to raise his voice. "Khan to Entrada. Spock, beam us up now. Right now. Nyota is a priority."

"_Yes Captain.__" _Spock replied instantly.

Within a few seconds, Nyota saw energy encircling herself, followed closely by the others. She did not move a muscle until she was one-hundred percent sure she was surrounded by the safety of the Entrada's transporter room. Exhaling, she stepped off the pad, Khan and the others energised behind her.

"What happened?" She asked, although part of herself already thought she knew.

"Are you alright?" Khan asked urgently, stepping off the pad and holding her shoulders. His eyes flickered with worry. She placed her hands on his chest.

"Yes, I'm fine." She reassured him, and his worry slowly faded.

"We saw a thing." Kirk announced, answering her earlier question. "And it was right above your head."

Spock came running into the room.

"Captain," Spock spoke out. "The other members of the away team have already beamed back to the Entrada. They encountered the creature responsible for the device destructions."

"So did we." Kirk told him.

"Is anyone hurt?" Khan asked, releasing Nyota's arms.

"No, Captain. Just, as you humans would say, 'a little shaken'."

"Alright. Everyone on the bridge."


	13. Chapter 13

The atmosphere on the bridge was palpably nervous. The other members of the away team were already gathered, unharmed but looking a little worse for wear. Doctor McCoy was on the bridge, running scans over the visibly shaken crew members. Khan looked about them, expression fixed with scrutiny as he searched for any signs of damage for himself. The officers shuffled under his gaze.

"Tell us everything you can remember." Khan asked the other members of the away team as gently as he could, calming his expressing.

"It chased us, Sir." The least fazed lieutenant recounted to Khan. "Not far, and luckily we had a head start on it because it was fast."

"Describe it." Khan asked, "Every detail you can recall."

"Large - I'm talking polar bear size, bigger even - vertebrate; it ran on all fours," He told them, "I remember teeth; rows of teeth, sharp, pointy looking, and large claws on its feet." He paused a moment, remembering, "I wasn't really looking all that much…"

"I understand," Khan reassured him. "What you've said is useful."

"It's skin was kind of shiny." A different lieutenant spoke out. "And it had spikes or horns or something up over its head, it reminded me of some things I have seen in prehistoric journals on earth. And it's eyes-"

"Huge, green?" Kirk interrupted her.

"Yeah." She confirmed, "That's all I really saw though, the Entrada picked us up fast, fortunately."

Silence fell over the bridge for a moment. Bones finished scanning the last away team member, satisfied that no one was suffering from more than slightly elevated blood pressure.

"So we're dealing with some sort of gigantic, spiky, prehistoric-like thing?" Bones drawled, "That sounds great, just brilliant." Khan ignored the doctors muttering.

"Thank you, Lieutenants. Take some time to recover yourselves and I want a full report on everything thats been said, and anything else you remember." He ordered them. Acknowledging, they left the bridge.

"From your sudden request for transport from the planets surface, I understand that you too encountered one of these creatures, Captain?" Spock asked.

"Yes, but we could only make out an eye. It was hidden well in that tree."

"So they're fast and they can climb too?" Bones commented again, "Even better."

"Why didn't it attack?" Kirk thought aloud, "The others were chased, so they must have been a fair distance from their creature, yet ours was literally right above us. I mean, it could have snapped Uhura up so fast and killed the rest of us in an instant - it had the upper hand but didn't act on it, why?" Kirk questioned. The bridge crew thought.

"Learning." Nyota said, breaking the contemplative pause in the room. "You said yourself Captain, these creatures must have watched our devices to some extent before destroying them, so perhaps it was studying us and just hadn't made up its mind yet?"

"Lieutenant Uhura's suggestion is very plausible." Spock agreed.

"Also," Uhura continued, "You said that creature was in the tree I was scanning? This being true, I can no longer be one-hundred percent sure whether the frequency I found was coming from the tree or the creature above me."

"So what do we do now?" Kirk asked, eager to move forward, find answers to the new questions that had arisen. All eyes were on Khan.

"We need to try and capture one, kill one if we have to." He stated. "Bring it onboard the ship."

"Capture? Kill one?" Kirk repeated.

"Yes. Unless you wish to try befriending one?" Khan suggested, "I highly doubt your efforts would be successful. This is the only way we will be able to properly analyse one and find out what they are biologically."

The doors to the bridge opened and a Lieutenant stood at the edge of the room, her PADD in her hands.

"Permission to come on the bridge, Captain." She asked.

"Granted Lieutenant." Khan replied and she approached him.

"Sir, I have digitally drawn an few images of what I can remember of the creature." She said, handing him her device.

"Excellent work." He commented, studying them, taking the PADD over to Kirk. "Transfer the images to the view screen, if you please."

A few swipes of screens and pushes of buttons and the images were presented largely in front of the bridge crew. The creatures sketch had a long face, two large nostrils at the end of its muzzle with big teeth a few inches below and large green eyes. Its shoulders were broad with stocky legs, large feet and long claws on each. The Lieutenant had also remembered seeing a tail.

"Looks like a big cat to me. Only scarier." Bones said as he regarded the pictures.

"These are good!" Kirk commented as an aside, grinning at the Lieutenant who drew them, "You're pretty talented, Lieutenant."

"No flirting on the bridge, Commander." Khan chided him briefly, not turing his attention away from the drawings before him.

The lieutenant blushed and Kirk rolled his eyes, still grinning.

"They may not be completely accurate, but I hope they help." The Lieutenant stated.

"Thank you." Khan handed back her PADD. "You may return to your duties."

"The drawings coincide well with the given details. The shape and structure of the creature would be correct of something standard that ran on all fours and had climbing abilities." Spock analysed.

"Okay, so we have a rough idea of what we are dealing with here, question is, _how_ are we going to bring one in?" Kirk asked.

"We need to devise a strategy." Khan began, "Kirk and Spock, come with me to science, I want everyone else analysing the data we gathered, and creating as clear a picture as possible using the details we have. Uhura," He turned to Nyota, "Decipher what you can from the frequency you discovered and see if you can pinpoint any distinguishing features."

The crew set to work and Khan made his way off the bridge closely followed by Kirk and Spock. Nyota brought up the frequency at her station, running it through. She extracted it meticulously, picking out every waver and subtlety, each tiny different sound she could pinpoint. Her ears were getting the best work out they had had since before she was subjected to the nothingness of cryostasis. Nyota found she was also enjoying having a second lieutenant. She sat with Keats, their heads together as they watched the lines and listened; it was useful to have an immediate second opinion and Keats was very skilled. She smiled, it felt so good to be back in a new element.

A few hours in and Nyota found she kept noticing the same thing repeatedly. Something was grabbing her attention in the pattern of the frequency, but she could not figure it out. She turned to Keats about it, who studied it as she did, but could not come to any conclusion either. Nyota dismissed it for the moment, going back to analysing the core of the frequency, perhaps it would become clearer as they progressed.

xxxx

"Lieutenants." A quiet voice was infiltrating Nyota's listening. "Lieutenants!"

Uhura snapped around in her chair to find Khan stood behind her and Keats.

"Alpha shift is over, it has been for nearly an hour now." Khan told them. Nyota checked the time on her comm. "You've both been working admirably, but you need to rest."

As she got up from her station and removed her earpiece, she looked around, mildly dazed.

"Where did the day go?" She asked Khan, he smiled.

"To good work, I hope." He replied, "I assume you have been making progress?"

"Of sorts." Her head still buzzed with her work, and that particular anomaly. "I'm hungry." She said, the sensation running through her like a wave. She wasn't even sure she had eaten anything today.

Walking over to the turbo lift, Khan followed her and she pressed the button for the living decks. As the lift enclosed them, Khan scooped her up in an embrace, his hands running the length of her spine as he kissed her. Nyota let the buzz of work drift to the back of her mind.

"How was your day?" She broke their kiss, her fingers on his neck.

"Eventful." He mused, "Spock likes to play the devil's advocate where Kirk just wants to go out there all guns blazing. I can see how their opposite natures compliment each others thinking, but how you managed to be under their command on the Enterprise and put up with it, I do not know." Khan rolled his eyes, but it was not a malicious comment.

The turbo lift doors opened and he released her from his arms, walking out along the corridor with her toward the mess hall.

"We have drawn up a few plans that should be ready by tomorrow."

Nyota nodded, not needing any more information for now, and still slightly preoccupied with thoughts of her own work.

xxxx

05:30am and Khan awoke to find himself alone. He sat up, his eyes adjusted to the dim room as he looked for Nyota, the bed beside him felt cold. Getting up, he checked their bathroom finding it just as empty as the quarters. He frowned, the alpha shift was not set to start for over two hours.

"Computer; locate Lieutenant Uhura."

"_Lieutenant Uhura - Bridge.__"_

Pulling on some plain clothes, he made his way to the hull.

Fortunately, this time of day was fairly quiet. Two other personnel manned the control room, keeping it ticking over and making sure nothing dangerous approached them during their quiet hours. The officers did not notice Khan enter the bridge, and neither did Nyota as she already sat busily at her station, her hair tied in a messy braid down her back and dressed in her pyjamas. Khan stepped up behind her chair and leaned in, wrapping his arms around her body.

"I do not like waking up to a cold bed." He rumbled, his lips next to her ear.

"Oh no." Nyota exhaled and looked at the time. Khan planted two soft kisses on her jaw. "I was meant to be back before you woke up." She turned in her seat and smiled up at him.

"How long have you been here?" He asked her.

"Not long." She blinked at him, biting lip. Khan quirked an eyebrow, it was no use trying to hide things from him.

"Okay an hour, maybe an hour-forty-five." She sighed.

"Is something troubling you?" He asked softly, kneeling down next to her.

"Just this frequency." She admitted, "It's not trouble, just frustrating. If the frequency came from the animal, it would be like a heartbeat or brain activity on another scale, but it doesn't look like that, or anything that could resemble it. Yet if it came from the tree, I'm not sure what it could be or mean. Yet there is something so obvious about it that I just can't pick out. It's infuriating!" She pulled her earpiece out and rubbed her hands over her face.

Khan got to his feet and held his hands out to her, helping her up.

"Come on." He said, taking her hands. "I am ordering you to stop thinking about it and get at least an hours more sleep."

Nyota was about to protest, but a yawn escaped her as she opened her mouth. There was no way she could argue that she wasn't tired. Hopefully a few hours more sleep would shed new light on it.


	14. Chapter 14

The devised and favoured plan was, on paper, relatively simple. To distract and to stun.

Currently, two of the last observation and scanner crafts from the ship were being deployed to the planets surface to act as a decoy. With the crafts already being an established target for the creatures, the plan was to beam a few personnel down to the surface of the planet to take cover, whilst the devices roamed as they had done before. Trusting that a creature would have time to see and attack the crafts, the away team would then encroach upon it unsuspecting, and stun it, then possibly kill it, before beaming it back to the Entrada.

Khan and Kirk were both dressed in dark camouflage away gear, along with two security officers who were going as back up. Nyota watched Khan as he spoke with the away team members, momentarily transfixed. He looked exceptional in dark camo; booted feet with well fitting, mottled cargo pants and a dark green t-shirt that clung to him in all the right places. His back was half turned to her and she could study his defined shoulders, her eyes wandering down his arms and over the muscles that were barely contained by his sleeves.

Nyota shook herself out of it and glanced around, hoping no one had caught her staring, but was surprised to look to Lieutenant Keats and find her wearing a barely hidden, lusty gaze towards him. She grinned and Keats noticed her. The lieutenant blushed violently, cleared her throat and turned back to their station.

"We cannot be one-hundred percent sure of how this is going to pan out." Khan began addressing the bridge crew as he stood in the middle of the room. "I am however, concerned that stunning the creature will not be enough to keep it docile."

"You cannot be sure of that until you see how it reacts to being stunned, Captain. Until then, you must keep to as humane a method as possible." Spock protested, he had a point, they didn't know how it was going to react to stunning.

"We'll be on our guard." Kirk replied, sliding the knife he had been holding into its sheath.

"Mr. Spock, you're in charge of the ship and in control of the crafts." Khan looked up to the view screen, "Which have just landed on the surface. And Uhura," He turned to her, "I am confident you will keep us all communicating, and a close ear on that scanner."

"Yes Captain." She nodded.

"Right gentlemen." Khan addressed his away team officers, grabbing his rugged leather jacket off the back of his Captain's chair and shrugging it on. "Time is of the essence."

Leaving the bridge with his officers and a slightly too-keen Kirk, they made their way to the transporter room. Nyota set her station to be ready for the channels and hopped out of her seat, removing her ear piece.

"Hold the comm." She told Keats as she dashed off the bridge and after Khan.

Nyota took a deep breath as she entered the transporter room. She was nervous for him, this mission was going to be unpredictable. Working on the basis of the destruction of some crafts and an artists impression; they had no idea what facing one of these creatures would really be like. Kirk and the guards readied themselves on the pad as Khan cross checked data with the engineer. Noticing she had entered the room, he glanced over at her. A wash of nerves swam through her, and she couldn't think of what she wanted to say. Finishing with the officer, Khan walked over to her, eyes cool and confident as they locked with hers. She didn't have to say anything as he held her face in his hands and kissed her. Khan understood.

"I'll be back soon with a monster." He whispered to her and smiled.

"Be careful."

Khan stepped up onto the transporter pad next to Kirk who grinned at Nyota excitedly. She rolled her eyes but gave him a small smile, watching as they faded away to Orcus.

Back on the bridge, Nyota re-engaged with her station. She had displayed her annoying frequency from yesterday on a screen above her to keep an eye on it, to see if she could have a revelation about it. Meanwhile, the observation craft was happily bumbling along a familiar track, taking in the sights of the beautiful trees and shrubs, and the frequency scanner was running quietly, not receiving the onslaught of data the last one found. Uhura secured the channel to the away team.

"_We can see the crafts.__" _Khan's voice sounded out onto the bridge. _"__Keep them going steady ahead of us. The area here is clear and we have found safe cover and vantage points.__" _

Nyota listened carefully to the scanner, waiting for any changes to appear in the frequency, anything that would tell her trouble was approaching. For now all was quiet.

Suddenly Kirk jumped, cursing as quietly as he could having been startled by something.

"Commander?" Spock questioned his outburst. Khan echoed his concern.

"_Oh, my bad.__" _Kirk breathed, _"__It was just a bird of some kind. It__'__s flown away.__" _

"_Focus, Kirk!__" _Khan told him.

"_I am focused! You focus__…"_

Nyota heard Khan mutter something under his breath and she smiled to herself.

A quiet few minutes past with nothing changing and the boys on the ground kept quiet. The crew were becoming tense on the bridge, but Spock was a patient man who would not quickly call for a change in tactics.

The frequency suddenly spiked.

"Captain," Nyota spoke out, "The scanner has picked up a shift, prepare yourselves; this might be our creature."

She closely observed and recorded the changes as the frequency increased, getting nearer to the scanners point and the observation craft. She logged it through the computer as it appeared, if this was their being, the scanner and the frequency would not be around for long.

"Stay on course," Spock ordered to the pilots of the crafts, "Continue as if we are unaware of any possible threat."

"It's coming up on the west side." Nyota told them, watching the frequency.

"_Stay down.__" _Khan ordered to his away team. _"__I see it.__"_

The bridge crew could do nothing but listen to the silence and wait. Within a minute, the data spiked and Nyota lost her scanner and frequency.

"_Holy shit!__" _Kirk whispered, as the ship lost its visuals and the observation craft was also destroyed.

There was nothing more the Entrada could do but keep in contact and wait with fingers hovering over the transporter keys. It was up to Khan and the others now.

"_On my mark, surround it__…" _Khan ordered.

Nyota's heart was racing again. The anxiety of not being able to see exactly what was going on was slowly affecting everyone.

"_Now!__" _Khan barked, and there was an immediate flurry of action. Boots thudding on dry ground and phaser fire, along with a hissing screech of what could only be the creature.

Nyota's fingers dug into her station as she listened intently.

"_Not working!__" _Kirk called out, _"__Khan, look out!__"_

Another wave of sounds hit them, running footsteps and crashes along with the distressed sounds of something not human.

"_Move!__" _Khan ordered, apparently too late as one of the security officers cried out in pain.

Lieutenant Keats grabbed Uhura's arm, her fingers digging into her skin, seeking out a desperate form of human comfort as if it would make a difference to the safety of the boys.

"_Get him away!__" _Khan shouted, _"__Entrada, beam back the Lieutenants now! McCoy standing by! Kirk,__" _He briefly cut himself off, startled by something. Nyota held her breath, but his voice soon sounded again. _"__Kirk, aim for its flanks! It__'__s our last attempt!__" _

Spock had immediately pinpointed the security officers and beamed them back aboard, ordering Bones to the transporter room. No one knew what had happened, but it couldn't be good.

Huffs and shouts from Khan and Kirk were interspersed with phaser sounds and the noises of the distinctly alien creature. After a tense few minutes of listening, all suddenly went quiet.

Nyota thought she had lost the signal, her fingers checked every switch at her station but everything was normal, working.

"Captain? Commander?" Spock questioned the silence.

"_Kirk to Entrada,__" _A puffed out Kirk soon responded, no word had come from Khan, Nyota fought the feeling of sickness. _"__It__'__s finally dead. Three to beam up, and we__'__re both gonna need some Med assistance.__" _

The ship responded quickly and Spock left the bridge. Nyota caught her breath at her station as she reset her communications and quickly logged the last piece of frequency she had gotten from the scanner. She turned to Keats, who simply nodded in acknowledgement of her leaving their station, and made her way to the MedBay. Her heart pounded, terrified at what she might find. Was Khan okay? Why hadn't he spoken to the Entrada? Her feet could not carry her fast enough.

The MedBay was hectic; doctors and nurses ran about with medical equipment and drugs, and McCoy was barking orders from the back of the room where the two security officers were. Nyota's eyes immediately found Khan who was sat on the edge of a bed, hair a mess, clothes dirty with a few rips and tears, and a bandage on his forearm as a nurse stood beside him with a scanner. Khan spotted her and his hard expression softened. She ran over to him, grabbed his face in her hands and kissed him repeatedly. She did not care what anyone else thought right now, she was too relieved to see him back mostly unharmed. The nurse had moved over to Kirk, and Khan's hands found her waist.

"Are you okay?" She asked urgently, her voice shook a little.

"Yes." He breathed. She sighed, running her fingers through his hair and turned to see Kirk.

"Kirk?" She asked, looking over him. He had a bandage here and there, but looked reasonably unscathed.

"What?" He asked, his trademark grin appearing. "No kisses for me?"

Nyota breathed a small laugh, he was fine. She focused her attention back on Khan.

"The creature bit one of the Lieutenants." He told her. She grimaced.

"Is he okay?"

Khan opened his mouth to reply, but exhaled and shook his head.

"I do not know, it looked bad."

"The other Lieutenant?"

"He's alright, a few scratches here and there."

Khan got to his feet and a doctor approached him.

"Yourself and Commander Kirk are free to go, Captain." He told him, "We will keep you updated on the condition of the Lieutenant."

"Thank you." Khan replied, briefly watching the commotion at the back of the bay. "I'll be on science deck after I've cleaned up." He turned to Kirk. "Commander. Science deck. Ten minutes."

Jim nodded, and Nyota made her way out of the MedBay with Khan.

Outside in the corridor they made their way to the turbo lift. Nyota cuddled him as they travelled upwards and stopped at the officers quarters.

"I've got a frequency to read, so I'll meet you on science deck later, okay?"

"Okay." Khan kissed her and stepped out of the lift, leaving her to go back to her work, mind at ease now he was safely back on ship.

xxxx

Back at her station, Nyota felt she could concentrate fully again. She went through her annoying frequency again before analysing the new one she had received from the presence of the creature today.

It was curious; there were some similarities between the creatures frequency and the frequency she had picked up on the planet the other day, yet the two frequencies were not entirely identical. The creatures only matched part of her picked up frequency, meaning the original could not have solely come from the being who had been sat above her.

Nyota played them through together, listening to how the creatures frequency and the picked up frequency partly fit together, leaving half of her picked up frequency still a mystery. She watched the data lines for a few minutes, and suddenly, the obvious thing that had irritated her became clear.

"But that doesn't make any sense." She said aloud.

"What doesn't?" Keats turned her attention to her. Nyota pointed at the data.

"It's a send and receive. The thing I couldn't pinpoint is a send and receive!" She told her, excited to have solved what troubled her yesterday, but now a new question had risen.

"Why doesn't that make sense?" Keats asked. Uhura was about to tell her what she was thinking, but stopped herself. It would sound too ridiculous to say out loud, not without getting more evidence to back herself up.

"I'm not sure yet…" She opted for, contemplating her idea privately. She checked the time on her comm. She'd been analysing for over an hour. "I'm going to go down to science, you okay here?"

"Sure. No problem." Keats replied, returning to her own work.

xxxx

The creature was gigantic, and fortunately, dead.

Science officers buzzed around the creature laying on a table, taking samples and data readings. An air of fascination hung over the room as no one had ever seen anything like this before, and analysing a new alien creature was what any science officer dreamed of.

It was easily compared to being a cat-like creature. At a glance, its structure could be mistaken for one, a very large one, but closer inspection of the details showed a vastly different creature. Its skin was thick and dark, like a combination of leather and suede with a hint of scaling that reflected and morphed the light that fell upon it. Its head was long, the bridge of its face was arched and decorated with spines that grew in size as they traveled up over its head, between its ears and around the back of its neck. There were tufts of green fur at the top of its ears, and its large green eyes were open, staring flatly into nothing. One of the most terrifying features was its jaw that ran the length of its face, almost like a crocodiles. This jaw however, made a crocodiles look weak in comparison, as its huge teeth were on display. Hundreds of them, each perfectly lined up as top and bottom row and individually razor sharp; The largest were at the front, and larger than Nyota's arms, the smallest must have still been half the size of her hand. Nyota caught her breath looking at them, feeling a deep empathy for the poor bitten lieutenant in sick bay. The body of the creature was strong. Large shoulders and legs with big feet, each having three long, knife-like claws emerging from it. Its ribcage was barrel like and its abdomen looked almost slender in comparison, before the strength returned in its haunches and down its long tail which curled around beside its lying feet, decorated with the same spines as on its face.

It was a fearsome thing.

"How did you two get away so unscathed?" Nyota wondered aloud as she approached Khan and Kirk, who stood by the table studying it. Kirk sighed.

"I have no idea," Kirk answered her quietly, expression deep in his own thoughts and reflecting upon what happened. "We're the lucky ones, I'd say."

Khan hummed in agreement, eyes roaming different parts of the creature.

"How is your frequency?" Khan asked her, turning his attention. "Getting anywhere?"

"Actually yes." She smiled and he returned it, intrigued. "Although now I have a new theory, and I need more evidence."

"What have you discovered?" Khan asked.

"Well, the frequency I got from the creature today matches with half of my other frequency, and the thing that I couldn't figure out has turned out to be a kind of send and receive signal, so the only thing I can think that it would mean…" She paused, her theory still sounding ridiculous in her head.

"It means..?" Kirk pried, intrigued. She took a breath.

"Okay; remember I said I couldn't be sure if the frequency I found was the tree or the creature? Well, I know that half of it matches with the creature, and I think that the other half matches with the tree. My picked up frequency belongs to both." She paused again. "You're going to think I'm crazy, but I think that tree and the creature were talking to each other."

"Talking to each other?" Kirk blinked at her. Khan had said nothing yet.

"Yes! It would explain the presence of a send and receive signal, and why I couldn't figure out what it was to begin with without having a match for part of the data."

"Fascinating." The voice of Spock made her jump, she turned around to see that he too had been listening.

"Indeed." Khan said, obviously thinking.

"I need more evidence though." She said, "I need to go back down their and analyse a tree that definitely does not have a creature in, to see if I pick up data that matches the other half of my frequency."

"And if it does?" Kirk asked.

"Then we will have something new to deal with."


	15. Chapter 15

"You look so sexy in your away gear." Khan purred, from the bed where he lay sprawled out in the sheets.

"In half my away gear." Nyota corrected him, looking in their wardrobe. She was wearing boots, cargo pants, a weapons holster strapped around her hips and thighs, and her bra. She had not chosen a top yet.

She turned to him, placing her hands on her hips and sticking her chest out, a seductive smile on her lips.

"This?" She flaunted the image of sexy combined with kick-ass. Khan hummed, returning her smile with eyes growing wild.

"Or maybe..?" She turned around and wiggled her butt at him, hearing him groan. She laughed and leaned into the wardrobe, pulling out a long sleeve top and a jacket.

"You need to get up lazy bones." She drawled as she tugged on her top. "Alpha shift starts in thirty-minutes, and Kirk and I wanna get down to Orcus ASAP."

"I can't," He flung his arms over his face. "Your delectable figure has rendered me unable to function."

Nyota smiled and crawled onto the bed. She straddled his hips and picked his arms off his face, pinning them to the cushions. He grinned up at her.

"Well maybe this delectable figure will let you taste it when she gets back from her mission." She teased him. Khan tried to lean up and kiss her but she tightened her grip of his arms. "Nah-ah; you've gotta wait now." Khan smiled wickedly.

She swung her leg back over his hip and released his arms, getting half way up off the bed when Khan grabbed her waist and pulled her back down to the mattress. She screamed a laugh as he held her body and moved on top of her.

"You're so bad!" She laughed, "I've gotta go get ready!"

"Nope," He grinned, their faces inches apart, "You've got to lay there whilst I kiss you." He rumbled, his soft lips meeting hers.

xxxx

"Right then," Khan announced, "From the earliest data we gathered from the planet, these coordinates should place you both in a fairly sparse area of forest. Plenty of big trees for you to analyse Uhura, and open enough for you to quickly spot any hostile creatures Kirk."

"_Copy that.__" _Kirk agreed from the transporter room.

"Good luck. I hope you find what you need, Lieutenant."

"_Thank you, Captain.__" _Uhura replied. _"__Energise.__" _She told the transporter engineer, and herself and Kirk disappeared to the planets surface.

Not long after they had left, Doctor McCoy entered the bridge, huffing and muttering to himself, and looking like the aftermath of a thunderstorm.

"Captain, a word." Bones called Khan over to the side of the room.

"Doctor?"

"The Lieutenant in sickbay has gotten worse." Bones sighed.

The bitten security officers fate had looked bleak from the moment he re-energised on the Entrada yesterday. His leg had been punctured almost down to the bone in five places. The wounds were nothing that McCoy couldn't handle, but the foreign substance that invaded his blood stream was proving to be beyond Bones' control. The lieutenant had been stabilised for most of the night, only taking a turn for the worst in the early hours of the morning.

"He was doing great yesterday after I fixed him up, but overnight something has developed in his blood stream. I've given the poor bastard everything I can think of, I've even invented concoctions of things that would clean even you out, but nothing is working." He told him, frustrated. "I've analysed his blood samples and cross checked them with the guys working on the creature in science; and I think he's been poisoned. We think those creatures are venomous."

"Is there anything else you can give the Lieutenant?" Khan sighed.

"Well there's one thing I'd like to try but I need you for it." Bones stated, "I want to try some of your super-blood. As a last chance."

"Alright." Khan nodded and looked to Spock across the bridge. "Mr. Spock, keep an eye on things. I'll be five minutes."

"Yes Captain."

xxxx

"Shouldn't we be back at the original tree?" Kirk asked Nyota as they walked through a small field together. "Y'know, the one where you first found the frequency?"

"I hope not! Can you imagine?" Nyota began, "If my theory is correct, then all the trees should have their own frequency which they communicate with. Otherwise finding the one tree on the entire planet that has a frequency first time around would have been the most bizarre stroke of luck!"

"Stranger things have happened." Kirk mused.

"And that would be one of the strangest, ever! Considering there has to be over a million trees on this planet!" She laughed.

"Okay, I take your point."

The breeze on the planet was cool, and Nyota was glad she chose a warm top. The field they walked across led them to a small verge of trees near the edge of a cliff. Kirk walked right up to the edge and looked out at the view.

"Wow. It's breathtaking, isn't it?" He smiled to her. "Just a shame about the monstrous cat-creatures."

Nyota took a deep lungful of air and sighed. "Yeah, I guess it is." She looked to Kirk, who was watching her.

"You're different." He said softly. Nyota raised an eyebrow, unsure of how to take the comment. "I don't mean bad different," He stumbled over himself, "I just mean; You were just so… and I never imagined your life turning out like… I dunno, never mind."

"I know." She smiled in understanding, "I never could have imagined this for myself either, but life surprises you."

A moment of peace sat between them and Uhura walked up to the nearest tree, closely checking its branches for any signs of creature before running her scanner over it and finding a frequency.

"I know it's none of my business," Kirk began, she looked to him, "But what happened? All those years ago for him to have won your affection like that? For you and Spock to end it?"

Nyota sighed. It was none of his business, but Kirk was a friend whose personality contained an innocent form of curiosity she'd never seen in anyone else.

"Spock and I…" She paused, thinking how best to phrase it. "I hit a ceiling with Spock. We would get to a point where neither of us could see things from the others point of view, and it would make everything difficult." She watched Kirk who still listened, "But with Khan… We're limitless. He's this great presence of understanding that's always seen me as something more, and has shown me how to see so much more."

She smiled, distracted by how much she adored him.

"He's the one Jim." She told him quietly, admitting this not only to another person, but to herself for the first time. Tears threatened to block her vision. "He is. I really do love him."

"Are you sure it's not just the British accent? I bet it's the whole British accent thing." Kirk teased her. She laughed, wiping her eyes and Jim smiled. "So long as you are happy, Nyota."

"I am. I am with Khan." She said, taking her scanner over to another tree.

As she read the frequency from it, the device started picking up the same thing again. This reassured her, as it started to look like her theory could be right.

xxxx

Khan read an analysis report from the science team on his PADD as a nurse took some of his blood in sickbay. The report was focused on the findings from analysing the creatures face. The otorhinolaryngologist findings showed the presence of a venom gland that started in the base of its throat, and ran two canals up into the length of the creatures mouth to each one of its pointy teeth. The gland in its throat measured to be about the size of a snooker ball.

Khan looked across to the very ill lieutenant. These creatures weren't merely venomous, they were positively lethal. The nurse took the blood over to the patient and hooked it up to his systems, dispersing it into his body.

"I am not confident that this will work." Khan said quietly to Bones, "That creatures-"

"I know dammit." McCoy replied gruffly. "But I have to try."

Khan nodded once, watching the screens a moment to see if there would be any instantaneous change, but nothing developed.

"I need to go and update Uhura and Kirk." He told the doctor, tucking his PADD under his arm.

"I'll keep you posted."

On the bridge, Khan resumed command of his ship.

"Lieutenant Keats," He announced, "Re-engage the channel to Kirk and Uhura."

"Yes sir."

"Lieutenant? Commander? I need you to listen carefully."

"_What__'__s going on, Captain?__" _Kirk asked, sounding calm.

"Analysis reports from science show that our creature is incredibly venomous. They release a toxic substance through their teeth, so be careful. We will beam you back if you encounter any trouble."

"_Received. We will be keeping well away, I can assure you.__" _

On the planets surface. Nyota was onto her third tree and Kirk was taking the morning off, laying contently on the grass.

"You could do something, y'know?" She dug at him a little.

"I am doing something." He responded, "I'm cloud spotting."

Nyota rolled her eyes.

"Oh look! There's one that looks like a pig."

"Are you sure you're not talking about yourself?"

"Haha," He said instead of laughing, "You're so funny."

"Thanks." She threw him a cocky grin. "Cloud spotting is not gonna keep us safe though."

Kirk sat up heavily and looked around.

"I see no kitty-creature things."

"Is that what you're calling them, kitties?" She asked, turning to him and suppressing a laugh.

"Here kitty kitty kitty!" He jumped up to his feet and made kissy noises at the space before him.

"Will you stop? What if that actually works, we're screwed!"

"It won't work." He brushed off her concern.

"Good. Now go make yourself useful and chip some bark off that tree over there to take back to the science guys."

Uhura continued working quietly. She looked around her and out over the landscape beyond the cliffs. She could really see this place as being a beautiful place to inhabit once they had discovered everything and if they learnt to manage the wildlife.

"_Uhura, Kirk?__" _Lieutenant Keats voice sounded to them, _"__I am picking up a frequency from Kirks device approximately two-hundred metres north of your location. It matches the frequency of the creature and its approaching you.__" _

"_We are beaming you out of there.__" _Khan added in.

"No! Not yet!" Nyota protested. "We are okay, give us one more minute, I'm not finished yet."

Kirk had finished taking a sample from the tree and was backing up toward Uhura, phaser in hand and scanning the north line ahead of him.

"_Lieutenant__…" _Khan's voice had an impatient edge too it. _"__That was not a request.__"_

Nyota huffed, glancing around and not seeing any immediate threat. She had one last reading to gather.

"_One-hundred metres and counting.__" _Keats tracked.

"All formalities aside, Khan," Nyota said, scanning her final tree, "If you beam me back before I finish this I will be so mad at you."

She could almost hear him roll his eyes.

"_Forty-five metres!__"_

"I'm seeing it." Kirk confirmed, clocking the animal running at them. "Anytime you like, Uhura!"

"Almost done, hang on." She concentrated.

The creature was upon them fast and dived out at Kirk. He jumped, narrowly avoiding it as its feet hit the ground where he had been standing. Phaser set to kill, he shot at it, distracting it before it had time to spot Nyota by the tree. It growled angrily and swung for him. Nyota finished her reading and turned to spot Kirk, about to call for pick up when the creature lashed out again. He narrowly dodged it but his manoeuvre lost him his footing and sent him tumbling off the edge of the cliff.

"Kirk!" Nyota yelled.

She ran to see over the edge, luckily, he had managed to hang on to a piece of sticking out rock, but the creature was still trying to swing for him, its large arms reaching down the rock face.

"_The creature is blocking the transporters range to Kirk, we can__'__t lock on.__" _Khan's voice spoke out. _"__Lieutenant, I am beaming you back.__" _

"No wait!" She demanded, "If you beam me back that thing is not gonna stop! Kirk will have no chance!" Drawing her phaser, she ran back from the edge. "I'll distract it, then pick us both up when it's out the way of Kirk!"

"_Nyota__…" _Khan stressed, but she ignored him, taking aim on the beast and firing at it.

It growled again, turning its attention away from Kirk and approaching her. The creature twitched with hostile excitement, it's orb like green eyes eyeballing her as it shifted from foot to foot, scaling her up and looking for the best angle of attack. She held her breath and kept firing.

"_Transporting.__" _Khan announced, and quickly, energy encircled her and the creature was gone.

xxxx

Kirk appeared with a thud next to her on the transporter pad, puffed out and covered in rock dust.

"You okay?" Nyota asked, taking a deep breath to slow down the rush of adrenaline.

"Yeah, you?" He groaned, flexing his hands.

"Yeah."

"Thanks for doing that." He gestured about her distracting the creature.

"No problem, sorry for making you wait."

Kirk shook his head, exhaling, as they got off the pad. He wasn't about to hold their delayed escape against her, considering she had just saved his life.

Khan came running in.

"Everyone alright?" He asked immediately, automatically reaching out to Nyota and sliding his hands around her waist.

"We're both fine." Nyota told him.

"I'm just a bit dusty." Kirk added, Khan looked him up and down.

"You should head down to science," Khan told him, "They might want to dust you off for sampling."

"Great, so now I'm a science experiment?"

"I really don't think they would discover much from you." Khan smirked at him.

"Oh, so you're funny now too? I didn't know that." He returned his smirk before making his way out to the science deck.

"I'm sorry I disregarded your orders." Nyota bit her lip as Khan refocused his attention on her.

"No, you did the right thing." He said, "I knew you would handle it or I would have picked you up despite your protests. I would save your life even if it meant facing your wrath afterwards."

"I doubt I'd be mad at you for long." She smiled and leaned in to kiss him. "Now, I need to shower and then I have some frequencies to decipher."

Nyota was pleased with the data she had managed to gather, and was feeling more confident about her theory being correct, for if it was, Orcus was about to get a whole lot more interesting.

They left the transporter room together and entered the lift, stopping at their quarters floor. She stepped out and stopped, turning back to Khan.

"Are you coming?" She raised an eyebrow, "I believe I promised you something delicious when I got back."

Khan smiled and followed her, the frequencies could wait a while longer.


	16. Chapter 16

Khan stood in the darkness of their quarters, illuminated only by the light from the screen on the wall before him. He leaned heavily on the console in front of him. Urgent news from sickbay at this time of night was rarely ever good. He exhaled, letting his head hang for a moment.

A cool hand brushed over the exposed skin of his left shoulder. He looked up to see a sleep-hazed Nyota had appeared next to him. She was squinting against the harsh screen light and messily draped in a sheet.

"I'm sorry, my love." He whispered, moving a hand to push her hair out of her face, "I did not mean to wake you."

Nyota did not care about that, she cared about the way Khan held himself before her, posture slumped and expression fogged even in the poor lighting.

"What's going on?" Nyota whispered back.

"The Lieutenant in sickbay has just died." He told her.

"After everything Bones did? Even your blood transfusion?" Nyota was saddened. There had been such positivity early on that he would pull through and that McCoy's treatments would work.

"Nothing worked." Khan sighed, "The drugs and my blood were enough to sustain him for a while, but the poison fought it. McCoy has said he will run a post-mortem analysis tomorrow to see if he can figure out why and how."

Nyota wrapped her arms tightly around herself, hugging the sheet to her body and nodded. Khan was strangely disquieted, more so than he would be by the news of personnel death. It's not that deaths are insignificant, but in this profession, on this particular mission and considering Khan's background, he would not usually take them so to heart. Nyota stepped a little closer to Khan, who was still leaning on the console. She reached out and touched his face.

"Hey," His attention turned to her, face cupped in her palm, and she could see his eyes looking grey rather than his usual electric blue, "Talk to me, something's bothering you."

"I had my doubts about the transfusion." He told her, "But some arrogant part of me believed it would work, given some time. I'm not used to being wrong, and I'm not used to the feeling of knowing there is something out there that could overtake even _my_ systems." He sighed heavily.

"You might be superhuman, but you're still human." She replied, fingers trailing down his neck. "And humans are not indestructible; there's always something that can get us. We're delicate."

"Too delicate." He said, wrapping his arms around her body and holding her close to him. "I am concerned you might get hurt. It was too close out there yesterday, you and Kirk. If that thing had attacked you, bitten you, and now I know that there would have been nothing anyone, or even I, could do to save you-"

"Khan…" She whispered, hushing him. "I'm not hurt, I am safe. You need to be more careful too. If anything happened to you, I would be ruined."

"As would I." He rest his forehead against hers, tilting his head until their noses touched. "You are all I have Nyota. You are everything to me."

xxxx

Nyota had been right about her theory. The frequencies she gathered from the trees on the planet had matched with the other half of her original frequency. One half of it belonged to the creature and the other the tree, they were communicating with each other. The question is, what were they saying? Nyota spent the next two weeks analysing and comparing with Lieutenant Keats and their team of communications officers, all with the same directive to work out what the communication meant.

A few small groups of away teams had been sent down to the planets surface nearly every day to collect samples and to bring back readings to be analysed on the Entrada. These missions however, never went by unnoticed. Each time a team was on the ground, they would only be able to collect a few samples before a creature, or more than one, would leap out at them and attack. There had been six more fatalities over the weeks that were caused by the creatures.

The samples of the plant life and flowers were proving to be very interesting, and mildly terrifying. Each different species that was gathered and analysed contained its own kind of toxin. Everything from the simple bark samples Kirk had gathered from the trees, to the most beautiful flowers found - they all produced their own form of poison, and the science personnel discovered that the more beautiful the plant or flower, the higher the potency of the poison.

Other small types of animals had been stumbled upon too; from rodent types, birds, insects and mammals of varying sizes. Fortunately, not all of the animals were hostile, or threatening to the visiting personnel, and nothing yet had outmatched the Creatures.

Today, Nyota felt sick. Sicker than she usually felt when an away team had beamed down to the planet and were relaying their actions back to the bridge. It was nerve wracking to keep up their communications, to not over think every rustle in the trees and shrubs to be some looming threat. Lucky for her nerves, Khan had not gone down today, and was assisting Kirk and some science officers from the Entrada. However, even knowing that Khan was perfectly safe was not doing anything to calm her sick-feeling.

Within an hour, the usual madness had ensued; away team members tried not to panic as they were pursued by a creature and awaited the Entrada's speedy pick up. Nyota frowned at her comm as Khan barked orders from the centre of the hull behind her, ensuring the safe return of the personnel. It was frustrating that this was happening to them every time; that they couldn't get much work done on the surface without being attacked.

A minute later and an angry Kirk stormed onto the bridge, ripping off his jacket and throwing it over a comm.

"Everything is trying to kill us! _Everything!_" He ranted.

Nyota had been keeping Khan up to date with the analysis of the frequency of the tree-and-creature conversation. He held his PADD in his hand, comparing it to todays frequencies as Kirk raged on, pacing around him.

"Every single time we go down there, those things attack us! We just can't catch a break!"

Khan was still quietly contemplating.

"Wherever we go - they are there! They just magically turn up!" Kirk continued. His words caught Nyota's attention. Pushing her ill-feeling aside, she got up from her station.

"We already know that the frequency between the creature and the tree is a send and receive, and on closer inspection we have found that they have been data sharing," She voiced, "What if the data they're sharing is information about us? What if the creatures use the trees as a way of sending messages to one and other?" She added, feeling momentarily dizzy and thinking she may have gotten up too fast.

Kirk had stopped pacing and was staring at her like she had just solved all of the worlds problems.

"I'm not saying I'm correct; but it would certainly be an explanation as to how they always know where we are."

"It would also be a match for explaining the virtually simultaneous destruction of the observation crafts and scanners all those weeks ago." Khan thought aloud.

"The intelligence of these creatures is certainly proving to be one of unique interest," Spock added, "Studying the animals brain on the science deck has shown us that the size of it is near parallel to a humans, and that they are utilising almost as much as humans do. The very nature of the creature and its own biological design would suggest that they are wholly capable of intelligent communication with their own species - the manner in which they communicate of course, is entirely original."

"Yeah, I'd say," Kirk said, "Using trees as, as communicators?"

"Well why not?" Uhura replied, "When we are not face to face we use other means of communication. Why couldn't an intelligent animal species do this as well?"

"There is much reasoning to believe they could." Khan agreed, "And communicating in this way would mean there is a structure to the information they share, and where there is a structure in communication, there will be a form of language, will there not?" He asked, turning his attention to her.

Khan's words had escaped her as Nyota had to steady herself slightly on the console next to her.

"Lieutenant?" He stepped toward her, "Are you alright?"

"Uh yes, sorry, Captain." She thought, "You're right, there would be…" She paused and rubbed her forehead, close to losing the battle with the feeling of sickness. "Permission to be excused from the bridge, Sir."

"Of course." Khan watched her momentarily, worry edging into his expression.

Removing her earpiece, Nyota threw it at her station and entered the turbo lift. She just needed to lay down for a couple of minutes to stop her stomach from turning in circles.

xxxx

It was no use. The sickness had won and overtaken her body. Nyota hated throwing-up. During her days at the Academy, her friends would dig at her on nights out for not having enough drinks, because she always stopped before she could get sick. She was always super cautious with her food, checking things were not bad or undercooked so she wouldn't be food poisoned.

Nyota sat on the floor of their quarters bathroom, a thin sheen of sweat covering her skin and limbs trembling, wracking her brains for a cause of her stomach upset. She had lost track of how long she had been away from the bridge, but felt as if she had been slumped on the cold tiles for an eternity, the ill feeling washing over her in waves.

Khan appeared in the doorway, face crumpling with anxiety to find her sat on the floor, colour drained from her skin. He approached her, dropping to his knees beside her, his hands immediately finding her skin. She was hotter than usual, and her pulse rate was slightly elevated.

"You are not well." He examined her briefly. She shook her head.

"No, no, I'm okay." She protested, another wave of sickness had not yet hit her.

"You are clearly not." Khan said, taking one of her arms and placing it around his shoulders. "I am taking you to the MedBay." He told her, gently helping her to her feet.

"No, I don't need to go there, really." Nyota tried to protest, but her legs buckled beneath her. Khan picked her up and carried her out to sickbay.

The MedBay was busy dealing with post-away mission scrapes and injuries. Fortunately, no major casualties had come in today, meaning the medical personnel frenzy was at a minimum.

"McCoy?" Khan called out across the bay, walking towards him with Nyota still in his arms.

Bones looked up from his patient, immediately handing his scanner over to a nurse to take over so he could assist Khan.

"Ah jeez." Bones muttered to himself. "Bring her over here." He told him, gesturing at a free bed on the right side of the room.

Khan carefully set Nyota down on the bed. She sat up groggily as McCoy began scanning her with a tricorder.

"I have to throw-up again." She told the doctor, moving to lean over the side of the bed. McCoy cursed and grabbed a container before she wretched. Khan rubbed her back and picked her ponytail off her shoulder.

"Sorry." She whispered to Bones.

"Don't be, you're in sickbay, this is the place for that." McCoy assured her, handing her a paper towel. "How many times have you done that, and over what time scale?"

"I make that four now, in about an hour?" She exhaled, "I'm not too sure…"

Bones continued scanning her and the rooms computer sounded.

"_Captain, I require your presence on Science deck.__"_ The voice of Spock was heard. Khan huffed, about to reply a with a resounding no, but Nyota touched his arm.

"Go. I'll be okay here." She told him. "Thank you for carrying me, but there's nothing more you can do now unless you want to be thrown-up on." She managed a weak smile up at him.

"I'll be back to check on you." He said, "Bones; keep me updated."

"Will do." He acknowledged, still taking readings from Uhura. Khan kissed her forehead before leaving for the science deck.

Nyota leaned back in bed and tried to steady her breathing and relax herself a bit. The feeling of sickness was passing her again, she just hoped it wouldn't come back now she was under the care of doctor McCoy.

"Your blood pressure and blood sugar are both on the low side." He said, preparing an IV drip next to her. "Have you eaten anything today?"

"I had breakfast at around seven; toast, an apple, some coffee." She told him as he attached the fluids to her arm. "I haven't had anything else yet today though."

"You need to keep your food intake up." He told her, "Your sickness is verging on chronic, but the other symptoms are perfectly normal for this stage, and easy to put right."

"Stage?" Nyota frowned at him. He met her gaze.

"Uhura, you're pregnant."


	17. Chapter 17

"I'm what?"

Nyota managed to ask eventually. Bones sighed and activated the screen around her medical bed to give them some momentary privacy.

"You are pregnant. With child. Having an infant." He repeated. "You are four weeks. Its quite early for you to be getting morning sickness, but then every woman is different, and your not exactly growing a normal baby."

Nyota blinked, unsure of what to feel. She was having a baby, Khan's baby. They were going to have a child together. Their own little life to take care of, that they created. The doctors words took a moment to register with her, but he was right. Her baby wasn't going to be a regular baby; it would have half of Khan's genetics, his superhuman genetics.

"Yeah…" She whispered to herself, a smile creeping onto her expression as she thought. "I guess I'm not."

McCoy watched her briefly, checking her fluid levels and blood pressure rate. Nyota's eyes had drifted out of focus and her expression was soft with a content look of wonder.

"Are you alright?" McCoy asked her, "Sanity wise?"

"I'm-" She thought, meeting his gaze and smiling, tears pooling in her eyes. "Yeah I'm alright." She nodded. "I'm pregnant."

McCoy pressed a few buttons and the shielding around them dissolved.

"I am going to keep a close eye on you considering the uniqueness of your situation," He gestured, "And you're staying here until I am happy that your levels have returned to a normal rate." Uhura nodded with agreement.

"Bones? You won't tell anyone will you? I mean, it's just-" She stumbled over her words.

"It is not within my rights to say anything unless it's in a medical emergency. The joy of the news is all yours." He told her, "I will update Khan and tell him that I have put you on some fluids, and that he can see you later; the rest is down to you."

She nodded, relaxing into the bed as McCoy left to alert Khan and tend to his other patients. She was going to have to tell Khan her news. This filled her with a mixture of emotions and a certain anxiety. Was Khan child friendly? How would he take this news? What if he takes it badly, where would that leave her? On her own, raising a half-augment child?

Nyota exhaled and told herself to stop overthinking. She had no idea how he would react, but she knew that he loved her, and that would count for something. She was pregnant. Having her own baby. The idea was almost unbelievable, Nyota was not even sure she was ready for children, yet all of a sudden knowing for certain she was carrying Khan's child - it made her feel strong.

xxxx

"Computer; please inform Khan of my relocation to our quarters." Nyota spoke to the comm as she arrived back in their room.

She had responded well to the fluids and McCoy had allowed her to leave after an hour or so, provided she went straight to her quarters to rest and signalled the MedBay if she got unwell again. Khan had sent her a message apologising that he hadn't been able to come and check on her again, but Nyota was secretly glad; she wanted to see him in complete privacy to give him the news.

Going into the bathroom, she washed her face and brushed her teeth, mind racing with a million thoughts she had never imagined she would be thinking. How soon would she have to stop working? She wanted to continue with the work here, but could she stay on the Entrada? It's not like the ship was in any particular danger stationed above Orcus, so long as she didn't go back down to the planet, would she be fine to stay in space?

She removed her boots and climbed onto the bed, crossing her legs and reading the work she had been doing on her PADD. She didn't want to stop deciphering this frequency or forsake uncovering the creatures language. Sighing, she locked her device and set it aside. McCoy had told her no more work for today, not so much as listening to a recording. She had to rest after being so sick this morning.

A few minutes passed and Khan strode into their room. His eyes rapidly searched her and expression gradually softened as he became satisfied that she was looking better than she had done a few hours ago.

"My love, are you alright?" He asked, sitting down on the bed next to her, hands holding her face and eyes searching hers. Nyota felt butterflies, she smiled.

"I am fine," She told him, "Doctor says I need to rest today." Khan's hands moved to find hers.

"Bones said your levels were a little low. I've been working you too hard on alpha shift." He said, trying to shoulder responsibility for her illness.

"No, no you haven't at all." She assured him, "That's not why my levels were low or why I was sick." She told him, his blue eyes filled with sympathy and concern as they locked with hers.

"Khan," She took a breath. "I'm pregnant."

His eyes widened slightly and lips parted, all concern leaving him and his expression was slowly replaced with a look of awe. This was the first time Nyota had ever seen Khan seemingly lost for words. After a moment, a huge smile spread across his face.

"You're..?" He whispered. Nyota giggled as she nodded, transfixed by his expressions as he took on the news.

Khan breathed, eyes roaming over her body before meeting her gaze again.

"We're having a baby." She whispered. "If, if that's- I don't know how you feel-"

"Nyota." He stopped her, smiling again. Tears were blocking his vision. "I love you. You're having my child. We are having a baby."

Nyota uncrossed her legs, leaned forward to him and threw her arms around his neck. A few tears rolled down her cheeks. She hadn't expected him to be so pleased, but was over the moon that he was.

Khan pulled her onto his lap, hands holding on to her body tightly. He broke their embrace and kissed her lovingly.

"I love you." She told him as he brushed a thumb across her cheek, wiping her tears.

"I want you to take it easy from now on, okay?" Khan began, "You need to rest and to monitor your health closely. I don't want you getting stressed out."

"Khan," She soothed, "I am four weeks. Yes, I have had a wobbly day today, but that was because I didn't know I was pregnant. I will be okay to continue working for a while yet. I want to."

He took a breath, brow creasing with worry.

"Hey," She said, kissing the lines away. "No worrying."

"I will be there for you every second that you need me."

"You already are."

"More so, Nyota," He stressed, "If you need anything, want anything, feel anything; you tell me, okay? I need to be there for you. I will be there."

Nyota could only manage to nod her response as new tears escaped her. Her day was turning out to be far more emotional than she had expected. Khan planted kisses on her lips. She laughed and wiped her face.

"I have to stop crying."

"No you don't. You are allowed; you're pregnant."

Nyota smiled and he returned it.

"I don't want everyone knowing yet." She added. "You and I know, and Bones, but he is a doctor. I want to tell some people separately before everyone knows."

"Spock..?" Khan sighed. Nyota nodded.

"Yeah, and Kirk and Scotty. They were my family on the Enterprise and deserve to hear it first. Spock," She paused, "I know after everything he has done, but at one time, we were in a relationship, we did talk about children once as a hypothetical. It'd be weird if I said nothing, so he should hear the news from me."

"I understand." Khan nodded.

"I won't be telling anyone yet though. I want to get a little further along and make sure McCoy says everything is going well."

"Whatever you decide I will support you. I won't say anything until you want me to."

Nyota kissed him again, enjoying a moment of peace as the thought of their new life settled around them. She smiled, gazing at him.

"We're going to be parents."


	18. Chapter 18

Khan and Nyota had agreed to resume their duties and lives as normal, keeping their little creation a secret for as long as they could.

She had continued with her work on the frequency and slowly made progress with her team in deciphering some of what the language may be trying to convey. The trees frequencies were constantly running with a dormant state of activity, waiting to be connected with. The frequency of the tree then changed when paired with a creature, echoing the data that was found in the creatures frequency and pairing it with a signal.

They were, however, hitting a slight wall. The fact that Nyota had managed to pick up a signal of a conversation between creature and tree on one occasion had been a complete stroke of luck. They needed more frequencies of a similar nature to analyse, but the chances of finding or even getting close enough to a creature in a tree without getting mauled to death was pretty slim. She still didn't know how she had escaped it the first time.

Nyota had a plan, and she needed to go back down to the planet to execute it, but there was no way Khan would let her go, even if she wanted to.

xxxx

"I think it may be time for a new uniform." Nyota said aloud as she stood in front of the mirror in their quarters. She was just coming on for nine weeks now, and although she was only just beginning to show, her usual well-fitting red dress was not helping her keep her secret. She turned to Khan who was sat on the edge of the bed, pulling on his boots.

"What do you think?" She asked, placing her hands on her hips. His eyes roamed her.

"It is not too noticeable, but people may definitely start speculating." He told her honestly, standing up.

Nyota shrugged and pulled her dress off over her head, tossing it aside before looking down at her small tummy.

"I know I don't exactly look huge, but I already feel big." She ran her hands over her skin.

"I think you look beautiful." Khan said, she smiled shyly. "I'll go and get you another uniform."

"Thanks, just one size up though! I'm not wearing a tent yet." She told him as he made his way to the door, "Oh, and I want cherries!"

"Cherries?" He paused and looked back at her.

"Yeah," She said. It was her first craving, she had started craving them yesterday afternoon as she worked, "About a hundred, big, fat ones." Khan laughed.

"Cherries it is then."

He returned within a few minutes, placing her uniform on the bed and handing her a large bowl overflowing with the round red fruit. She took it from him eagerly, ignoring her uniform, and dropped two in her mouth.

"So good." She hummed. Khan chuckled, placing his hands on her small belly.

"Whatever you need." He smiled.

Nyota thought momentarily, stuffing another cherry in her mouth. Her expression changed with thoughts of her work. She chewed quickly and held Khan's attention.

"Hm," She swallowed her fruit, "I need something else too." Khan tilted his head.

"I need to go down to Orcus, back to some trees." She ate another cherry.

"No, absolutely-"

"I know, I know, not me specifically." She cut him off. "We need more frequencies to analyse and compare, but the chances of successfully getting one like I did the first time without getting killed is pretty low. But I have a theory."

"Which is?"

"We know that the creatures share the data into the trees, and the trees echo it. So I believe that the trees must have some kind of storage; storing the data they receive before sending it off or waiting for another creature to get it. Basically what I need to do is probe a tree. Stick a reader into its trunk and see what we find, because I think we will find other frequencies stored from other creatures."

"Alright," Khan replied, "I will go down there and collect your readings personally. Some science officers are going down to collect water samples from an area of salt marsh, so I shall accompany them."

"Great!" She beamed, eating more cherries, "I'll monitor you as you go."

xxxx

Nyota took her bowl of cherries to the bridge with her. There were only a handful left so she shared them sneakily with Lieutenant Keats as they waited for the away team to energise on the surface. Kirk was in command today.

"Comms established, sir." Nyota told Kirk.

"Okay people, shout us if you hit trouble." Kirk voiced to the team. He turned in the Captain's chair, sniffing the air. "Can I smell cherries?" He looked in the direction of the scent.

"No sir." Lieutenant Keats muffled. Nyota tried not to laugh, she felt like they were schoolgirls getting caught eating in class.

"Lieutenants…" Kirk tutted, "I might not rat you out if you give me one."

Nyota grinned, grabbed the last one and threw it at Kirk who caught it in his mouth like a dog.

"Circus animal." She laughed. He rolled his eyes and turned back to his own work.

Nyota's station came to life, soon followed by the voice of Khan.

"_I__'__ve found my first tree. What are you getting from it?__" _He asked and she studied the data.

"Nothing different in that one; the frequency matches the dormant activity frequency." She told him, "Try another."

"_Okay.__" _A paused followed him as he moved to another tree, _"__What about now?__"_

The data on the screen before her danced, a whole new frequency was being picked up.

"Yes, perfect!" Nyota smiled, "We've got something new! Stay there for a minute so we can record it. I'll tell you when you can move on."

She was able to get Khan to read a dozen more trees, most of which provided them with a new piece of data. She had been right; the trees were definitely storing information.

"_Uh, Sir?__" _A science officer was addressing Khan from somewhere. _"__You might wanna come take a look at this.__"_

"_Hold on a moment.__" _He replied as he was still reading a frequency for Nyota. A female scream suddenly ripped through the bridge from the planet's surface. Nyota's frequency was cut short as Khan moved to the source of the noise.

"What's going on?" Kirk demanded, "Uhura, are you picking up any creature frequencies?"

"No sir, none are in the vicinity of the away team members."

"_We have to get her out of there!__" _Khan was ordering the others around. More screaming was heard, frantic and partly muffled.

"_One of the Lieutenants has fallen in- oh my God!__" _A panicked officer stated.

"Kirk, I have just lost the lieutenants frequency! It's cut off, she's gone!" Nyota worked quickly to try and get her back, but failed.

"_Get back, now!__" _Khan barked at his officers.

"That's it, I'm beaming you all back to the Entrada." Kirk was about to signal transport.

"_No! Wait! We are not in danger, it__'__s not like that.__" _Khan told him, sounding worn out and startled.

"Then what the hell is going on!?"

"_I-__" _There was a pause as Khan took a breath, _"__I have no idea.__"_

"Where is the Lieutenant?" Kirk demanded.

"_I think she is dead.__" _

Kirk was close to spitting profanities at the confusion.

"_Captain,__" _A different officer addressed Khan, _"__Are those__… __human bones?__"_

Silence fell and only shuffling footsteps could be heard for a few moments.

"_Gather what you can._" Khan said, sounding slightly calmer. _"__Entrada; beam us back in two minutes.__"_

xxxx

The away team soon returned, minus one member.

"What the hell has happened?" Kirk ordered, marching into the transporter room with Spock and Nyota in tow.

Each person on the pad was literally carrying a bag full of bones, their complexions drained of colour.

"Are those-?" Nyota asked, shocked.

"They are human bones, yes. The question is to whom do they belong?" Khan cleared his throat and strode off the pad, handing his bag to Spock.

"Fascinating." Spock picked one up and studied it. "They are remarkably pristine."

"Science deck. Everyone. Now." Khan ordered. "We have explaining to do and things to analyse."

The bones were definitely human, and they were not old either. The science personnel spent the day analysing them and made some disturbing discoveries.

Some of the bones were a match for the Lieutenant that had just been lost, and the others all belonged to a different deceased member of Starfleet - they found matches to approximately seven different personnel who were part of the original two hundred people who lost their lives on the first expedition to Orcus.

"The ground _ate _her?" Kirk couldn't believe what he was hearing as he stood on the bridge staring at a slightly perturbed Khan. Nyota stood at Khan's side as he sat in his chair, she was worried about him.

"The team were examining the salt marshes, and the next thing I knew, the lieutenant was being consumed by the ground." He relayed."I can only compare it to being akin to quicksand, only it must have been acidic, possibly, and much faster at swallowing its victim."

"Acidic?" Spock asked. Khan took a deep breath, blinking.

"The Lieutenants bones were so clean because something in the salt marsh melted her flesh…" He said slowly.

Nyota gasped and her hands flew to her face. "Oh my God…" She whispered. Khan placed a hand on the small of her back.

"Do you think that's how all those Starfleet personnel died?" Kirk asked quietly.

"The bones we found matched seven deceased people in the Fleets database. There were more bones in the marsh, being regurgitated by the salts, but it would be difficult to say with one-hundred percent certainty that is how _all _the Starfleet members died. I can guess it is responsible for a good many though."

Nyota felt sick picturing this marshland digesting their poor lieutenant and those other officers, before spitting out the bones, like some bog-pit of human melting salt.

"Permission to be excused from the bridge." Nyota breathed, not wanting to stand any more of this.

"Granted, my darling." Khan let her go, sensing her tension.

Nyota made it back to her quarters, her hands moving over her small stomach. Kirk was starting to be right about what he said the other day, she thought as she crawled onto the bed to rest. Everything on that planet was trying to kill them.


	19. Chapter 19

"I think it's time to start telling people the news." Nyota said to Khan as he stepped out of the shower. He grabbed a towel and rubbed it over his head, messily drying his hair.

Nyota was just into her fourth month, and her uniforms, no matter what size dress she wore, were no longer going to be able to conceal her stomach. She had a check up with McCoy a few weeks ago, who was pleased at her progress and had checked her and the baby as healthy.

"We know everything is going well and I'm not going to be able to hide it forever." She stated, "Plus, Keats kept side-eying me yesterday, so I think she's figuring it out."

Khan adjusted the towel around his waist. Nyota loved his just-showered look; his skin was all smooth and face fresh, topped with a mess of unruly, damp black hair that made him look sexier than usual.

Yet his expression did not match his soft-looking body. He was clenching his jaw, his brow forming lines of concern.

"What's wrong?" Nyota asked, "You think we should wait longer?"

"No." Khan sighed, "You are right. Now is the time to tell while you still have the pleasure to do so without it being obvious. It's just," He paused, Nyota walked toward him.

"What?"

"The Vulcan." Khan exhaled. "I am unsure of his reaction. You know what he did when he found out we were in a relationship; how is he going to be when he finds out we've conceived a child?"

Nyota sighed. The thoughts of telling Spock had been causing her some anxiety too.

"I figure if I tell him personally, then I can hopefully warn him against doing anything stupid."

The look still did not leave Khan's face.

"My concern goes beyond Spock." He told her, "The Federation is going to have to be informed at some point, and I cannot predict their reaction."

"So? Ultimately it's not their concern." She said, "I mean, what are they going to do? Capture us again? Put a pregnant woman into cryostasis?"

"They could put me into cryostasis."

"No, they won't." Nyota stated, starting to get angry. "They won't because I will not let them, and neither will you. We will not be separated, not again, _especially_ not now. Our child will have both its parent's and there's nothing the Federation can do to-"

"Nyota." Khan soothed, running his hands over her shoulders. She stopped and took a deep breath, calming herself. "I did not want to stress you out by making you think about it."

"You think I haven't thought about it already?"

"Darling…" Khan wrapped his arms around her and she took another breath, "I am here for you, and will continue to be. I give you my word that I will protect you, and look after all three of us. We are just going to need to be aware of all the Federations responses once they find out."

"Okay." She whispered, "How are we going to tell them?"

"My favoured idea would be to inform General Wells. He is the only senior officer I have even a shred of respect for, and he will know how best to relay the information to anyone else who need know it."

"I trust your judgement." She paused. "Do it now, before alpha shift starts and before I have told anyone on the ship. At least then when I get round to telling Spock, my pregnancy report won't come from him."

"Alright, I'll let you know when it's done." He replied, and kissed her before releasing her from his arms, hands lingering to feel her tummy. Nyota placed hers hands over his.

"_We_ will be on the bridge."

"Have you eaten breakfast?"

"No, not yet." Khan opened his mouth, about to protest but she stopped him, "I have one little thing to do first. I'll get to it."

She smiled and kissed him again, before heading out of their quarters and leaving him to send message to the General.

xxxx

Since picking up some new frequencies from the trees, the communications officers had been piecing together a picture of how the creatures communicate with each other across the planet. The data Khan found in the trees had been parts of different frequencies from different creatures, as if they downloaded key pieces of information to be saved and shared.

Nyota entered the bridge and took over her station. She wanted to make a specific comparison of one of the new frequencies to the original. Breakfast could wait, her brain had been bugging her to do this since last night.

Lieutenant Keats soon joined her, arriving early for her duties too. Her eyes darted over her, a little more curiously than usual. Nyota tried to ignore it for now.

"Good morning." Keats greeted her in her usual way, warm and upbeat. Nyota returned it.

It wasn't long before her station alerted her to a private message from Khan. She opened it in the corner of her screen.

_I have sent the General a personal report. Let me know who you plan to tell today. _

She messaged him back four names: _Keats, Spock, Kirk, Scotty. _Khan's reply was an instant confirmation. Nyota felt a sudden wave of excitement mixed with anxiety, she could actually tell people, say it out loud, confirm it.

"Everything okay?" Keats asked, noticing she was distracted.

"Um," Nyota turned in her chair and glanced around the bridge. Alpha shift didn't start for another ten minutes and the hull was mostly empty, only herself, the lieutenant and two other people occupied the other side of the room. She turned back to face her.

"Well, you've probably already been guessing at it," She began quietly, holding Keats' interest. "I'm pregnant."

The lieutenant squealed with delight, and Nyota shushed her. Keats was grinning from ear to ear.

"That's amazing!" She tried to contain her excitement as best she could. "How far along are you?"

"Fourteen weeks." Nyota smiled, "I thought I'd let you be one of the first to know because you're my second in command, and are going to have to take over from me at some point."

"I'll look after it all, don't you worry. I am happy for you!"

"Thanks." She returned, "But don't go telling everyone on the ship, there are a few more people I have to talk to first before it can become common knowledge."

"Mum's the word." She nodded, pointing to her tummy. "Literally." Nyota laughed and removed her earpiece.

"Okay; I've done my comparison, now I have to go get some food. I'll be twenty-minutes, tops."

Keats had already returned to work and gave her a quick nod as she left for the turbo lift.

She descended a level before the lift stopped, doors opening to pick up another person, who just happened to be Jim Kirk.

"Uhura!" He gave her his most charming smile, the one even she couldn't help but return. "You okay?" He stepped in.

"Yes." She said. They began moving again, but she pressed the button to pause the lift. "But there's something I'd like to tell you."

"Should I be worried?" He asked, his big eyes watching her, "Because you've trapped me in a lift."

"No," She brushed aside the comment, "I just want some privacy."

"Now I'm worried."

"Jim," She assured him, "It's nothing bad."

"Then what is it?" He asked, big eyes still glued to her.

"Well," She took a breath, "I'm pregnant."

"Oh my God! You're having a mini-augment!?"

"Kirk!" She hit him gently and he laughed. "Well, yeah, but not like that!"

"I know." He stopped laughing, "Gotta hand it to the guy, I would've thought that hundreds of years in cryostasis would effect that, but-"

"Jim, you're focusing on the wrong thing here!"

He smiled again, "I am happy for you, so long as this is what you want? I mean, babies… and it'll have his super-genes won't it?"

"Yeah some I expect." She agreed, "I am happy, it's a special step for us."

Before she could do anything about it, Kirk hugged her tightly. She squeaked a giggle and he held her shoulders, gaze meeting hers and a genuine smile on his face.

"I'm going to be an uncle!" He gushed.

"Oh God…" Nyota rolled her eyes and laughed. Trust Jim to find a way to make it all about him.

xxxx

Two down, two to tell. Nyota hadn't seen Scotty for a few days now, but he was hardly difficult to locate and kept to a fairly habitual schedule when working the main shift of the day. She figured she would try and find him during one of his breaks. Spock was just as easy to track down, but much more difficult to catch on downtime, as he took so little of it.

"Scotty!" Nyota had found the Scottish engineer in the mess hall, predictably, at 13:00 hours. She darted over to him through the busy people.

"Ah, hello Lass," He smiled briefly at her before turning his attention back to ladling spoonfuls of katterpod stew into a bowl. "What can I do you for?"

"I feel like it's been ages since we spoke, and I wanted to catch up with you!" She said, the smell of the plomeek broth in one of the soup servers next to her was making her very hungry, she decided to join him.

"If you can call four days ages. Not much has changed with me!" He said, walking over to find somewhere quiet to sit.

"Well, lots has changed with me." Nyota followed him, sitting with him to eat. She always enjoyed Scotty's company. He had a way of making most people feel at ease with his warm accent and good sense of humour.

"How are your frequencies?" He asked, dipping a chunk of bread in his stew.

"Still puzzling in some places, but we are making interesting progress with them." She told him, "I have some more interesting news than the frequencies though."

"Oh, you've turned into a wee gossip now have you?"

"Me? A gossip?" She ate her food, "When have I ever been a gossip?"

"First time for everything!"

"No, I'm haven't got any gossip, just something personal I want to tell you."

"Right." His expression turned serious, as Kirk's had done. She wondered whether she was phrasing this wrong, or if her friends just naturally deferred to pessimistic thinking.

"It's not bad!" She smiled and leaned over the table a little. "I'm having a baby." She told him quietly. His face lit up.

"With Khan?"

"No, with the Orion officer who sometimes bar tends in the rec-lounge!" She said sarcastically, unable to contain a laugh. Scotty rolled his eyes, but smiled.

"That's great news! You'll make a fine mother."

"Thanks, Scotty. I hope so."

"Is he as excited as you are? I can't imagine him excited about… anything." He contemplated to himself.

"I don't know if Khan's _excited__…_ But he was definitely happy when I told him."

Scotty's expression warmed again. "Well, I wish you both the best of luck, considering everything." He pulled a brief face, "And if you need a godfather, then look no further!" He beamed, "I'd love a godchild, I'd teach 'em to call me 'God' for short!"

"Y'know I might let you be, just for that!"

xxxx

Walking through the science deck corridors, with his PADD in hand and thoroughly engrossed in reading a data sample, Khan could almost say he was startled when someone clapped him on the back.

"Hey! I think congratulations are in order!" Kirk spouted, grinning at him. Khan stared at him a moment, surprised that Kirk had bothered to offer him any comment at all.

"Thank you, Commander." Khan replied, "I trust you are keeping this information to yourself?"

"Of course." He said, "Uhura told me I was on her list of first-ups, and I know she'd kill me if I went around spreading her news for her."

"Yes. As would I." Khan flashed him a slightly hostile grin, before looking back to his PADD.

"I know better to keep it a secret, and to be honest, I am more scared of her than I am of you."

"So you should be."

Kirk glanced about them before leaning closer to Khan.

"Does Spock know yet?" He asked quietly. Khan looked back up from his device.

"Nyota is informing him today. I do not know if she has gotten around to it yet, though I think it will be obvious when she has, don't you?"

"Yeah. I'm a bit afraid of that."

"Why?" Khan asked, stopping to face him.

"Well, their history, how Spock obviously feels about her, the fact that you're not exactly his favourite guy." Kirk reeled off a few reasons. Khan regarded him a moment.

"Spock does not _feel_ for her still, surely?" He asked, wondering what Kirk knew from his angle, and from being the closest thing Spock had to a friend. Kirk hesitated before answering.

"Vulcan's emotions run pretty deep, and getting involved with Uhura in the first place wasn't a step he took lightly; it went against every tradition of his culture, not to mention almost breaking a few Starfleet regulations." He paused, "Giving yourself over to another person like that has a big enough affect on humans, so for Vulcans? He's never really talked much about it, but I can tell how he feels, no matter how he tries to hide it. It's the little things… A lot happened before you showed up, buddy."

Khan observed him. Kirks attention drifted slightly, privately thinking or remembering something. Picking himself up again, he moved on.

"Anyway, I got stuff to do." He concluded and left him. Khan watched him go, pondering his new insight.

Walking along, Khan turned a corner and saw Nyota talking to a lieutenant near the transmission room doors.

"Ah, Khan!" She spotted him. He stopped in his tracks and waited as Uhura handed something to the officer before skipping over to him.

"I wanted to let you know; three out of four done." She smiled, placing her hands on his chest.

"Yes. I have just seen Kirk actually, he offered me his congratulations." He spared her the other details of their conversation, unsure of how she might react to them and knowing this was hardly the place or time to discuss it.

"He was excited. A little too excited maybe." She remembered, "Anyway, I have arranged to see Spock at 17:00 hours in his quarters. Wish me luck."

"Do you want me to join you?" He offered himself as back up.

"No, no." She rejected. "I can handle myself just fine."

Khan smiled, her confidence gave him peace of mind. "I know you can."

"Also, have you heard back from General Wells?"

"No, not yet." He told her, "But give him some time."

Nyota nodded and Khan's lips brushed her forehead before he left her to return to the transmissions room.

xxxx

Nyota took a deep breath and pressed the door alert switch to Spock's quarters.

The panel swooshed aside and she cautiously stepped into the room. Spock had risen from where he had been seated on the edge of his bed, placing his PADD down on the sheet beside him.

"You requested to see me, Lieutenant?" He said instead of greeting her.

He looked different somehow. Less stoic and a little burdened. Nyota knew he had been occupied with a lot of work recently, but it was nothing he couldn't handle, or that he wouldn't be interested in handling. It became obvious that the weight he was carrying was perhaps less work related and more emotional.

"Yes." She replied simply, glancing back over her shoulder to check the door had closed, and to buy herself a second of thinking time. She had been thinking all day about how she was going to tell him and what she was going to say, but the tension that accompanied the reality of the situation was higher than she anticipated. Every word she had prepared escaped her.

"There is something that I wanted to tell you," She started, he watched her patiently. "In person. I didn't want you to hear it from another or find things out before I had a chance to speak to you, but, uh," She hesitated under his gaze, feeling unable to form the simple words.

"You are pregnant." Spock said it for her. Plainly, matter-of-fact, yet in a tone that was softer than the statement. Nyota's chain of thought dissolved.

"Yeah, I.. How did you-?"

"I worked out as much for myself." He told her, "From noticing some simple changes in your behaviour and mood to the fact that you have taken to wearing a slightly larger size uniform, when naturally you are of slender build and would have no other reason to. These are all attributes associated with a woman who is with child."

The way Spock put it made it sound so business-like and formal, draining her pregnancy of any of the magic or human-wonder that came with creating life. She swallowed back the coldness of his statement.

"When did you realise?" She asked him.

"My first notion came a few weeks ago, when you asked to be relieved from the bridge during Khan's description of the death of the Lieutenant in the salt marshes. I then confess, the idea had formed and during the days and weeks that followed any differences I saw in your behaviour seemed to correlate toward my preconceptions."

Nyota pressed her lips together and stared at him.

"I must tell you," He paused a moment, thinking, "I am, for want of a better word, surprised that you have come to inform me. I did not think you would, so I am curious, considering everything that has come between us."

"I-" She stuttered, "Everything that has come between us is the reason why I wanted to tell you." She said, Spock frowned slightly and Nyota exhaled. "On one hand, you deserve to know because of what we used to be, and what you meant to me. And on the other," She paused, "I wanted to tell you because I don't know how you are going to react, and I wanted to ask you not to do anything you might regret…"

Nyota sighed, feeling a little emotional. She had walked in here with a clear focus and confidence that she would be the one handling the situation, but Spock's deductions had thrown her completely off. She felt stupid, she should have known he would figure it out on his own. If anyone aboard ship could it would be him.

"I have not alerted anyone of my suspicions, if that is what you are referring to." He broke the momentary silence, "But Starfleet will have to be informed of this."

"They already have been." She cut in. "Khan sent a report."

Spock nodded once, fists slowly clenching by his side as the silence returned. He studied her briefly.

"As for how I am going to react." He paused. "I have no reaction, Nyota. You and Khan have proved to everyone that you will do as you please, and it was not beyond the realms of possibility to imagine that he would not be adverse to creating his own new family, considering what happened to the others he cared about."

Nyota locked her gaze with his.

"The Vengeance crew..?" She asked, slowly regarding his words. Spock studied her expression, noticing the change in her interest, the apparent look of incredulity and sudden suspicion.

"If you are not already aware of their circumstance then I am not at liberty to discuss the matter with you." He quickly dismissed.

"Oh no no," She took a step toward him, "Anything regarding that crew, _my family_, you are more than at liberty to discuss with me."

He said nothing, merely tried to deduce how much she already knew from her expression.

"Spock? What do you know?" She pried, she could feel her blood starting to boil. "Where are they? What has the Admiral done with them?"

He held her stare for a moment before turning to pick his PADD up off the bed, "You are not authorised to know anymore than you already do." He told her, walking over to the table in his quarters. "Even if you were it would not be my responsibility to tell you-"

"You tell me, Spock!" She couldn't help shouting at him. The uncertainty of the Vengeance crew had caused herself and Khan so much trouble and anxiety over the past few months since they were taken, and now to find out she was aboard this ship with someone who knew everything? She briefly chastised her own blindness, of _course _Spock knew. She was desperate and furious.

"I will not be providing you with any information that could-"

"Do you have any idea what we've been going through? What it's been like!?" She confronted him. Her eyes were starting to sting with tears but she was to angry to care, "Those people are our family, our friends and they are defenceless! Taken against their will, away from the protection of Khan and all to just be used against us! You tell me right now what you know!"

"Perhaps you should consider that-" Spock began arguing back, but it was no use. Nyota was trembling with anger now, heart beating so loudly in her ears that she could barely even hear him, when suddenly, the world went black.


	20. Chapter 20

"Captain, we need you down in Medbay."

McCoy's voice sounded calmly on the bridge where Khan was quietly finishing some work with Commander Kirk.

"On my way." Khan's expression had hardened and he rose from his chair immediately, moving quickly out of the room. Kirk watched him go, before deciding to follow after.

Spock stood on the opposite side of the bay to where Nyota sat propped up in one of the beds, a few tubes attached to her arms. Her eyes were closed and her hands lay shaking in her lap as she concentrated on trying not to cry. She was drained.

Khan strode in and Kirk followed a few paces behind. He noticed the Vulcan immediately and threw him a lethal glance.

"McCoy?" Khan called out to the doctor who was fetching some more fluids for Nyota.

Hearing Khan's voice, Nyota opened her eyes to find him. Her bottom lip trembled as he reached her side and a few tears escaped her.

"What's going on, what's happened?" He demanded, hands finding Nyota, desperately checking she was alright.

"Nothing too serious, it's alright," Bones reassured, "Uhura got herself a bit too stressed out and collapsed. I've put her on some fluids, which she is starting to respond to nicely, and both momma and baby will be fine." He informed Khan. Attaching a different drug to the machine beside her, Bones addressed Nyota. "You cannot afford to get worked up like that again, okay?" He told her off, but his tone was not malicious.

Uhura nodded, still using all her strength to hold back her tears. She turned to Khan who embraced her tightly.

"My darling, I cannot have you collapsing." He said, his voice filled with concern. He met her gaze, eyes brimming with worry and expression showing a slight hint of anger. He didn't have to ask what had gotten her worked up, he knew she had been with Spock. "Are you alright?"

"I've been better." She managed to whisper, a shaky breath escaped her. She would tell Khan everything, but not here, not now. All she could do now was try to calm down, and not burst into tears.

Khan kissed her forehead as he straightened himself up, turning to face Spock on the other side of the room. He stared at him.

"I can always count on you, can't I Commander?" Khan growled at him, stepping forward a few paces.

"I do not understand your meaning." Spock responded.

"Oh, I think you do."

"If you are in some way insinuating that I am to be held wholly responsible for Nyota's collapse then you are clearly unable to see the situation rationally." He stated, "Whilst I do not like what happened, I know I am not incorrect when I say she brought her collapse upon herself with her own reactions."

Spock's blunt statement made Kirk and doctor McCoy wince. Kirk had looked like he was going to interject, but was now staring at a fixed spot on the floor and had taken a few steps backwards. Nyota could see Khan's chest rising and falling heavily as he now fought with every fibre of his being to restrain himself. His knuckles were white.

"What?" Khan's voice resonated throughout the room.

"You heard me perfectly well."

Khan took a deep breath. "You have approximately five seconds to get out of my sight, Mr. Spock, or I will break you."

"I am not intimidated by your threats, Khan."

Khan's eyes flickered wildly and a savage smirk flashed across his face as he slowly moved toward Spock. Nyota held her breath, wringing her fingers together.

"Guys…" Kirk warned them, but they were locked on to each other, positively entranced with building rage.

"Enough, both of you!" McCoy strode toward them. "If you two are gonna fight like roosters then you'll take it somewhere else! I will not have feathers flyin' in my MedBay!" He ordered them.

They remained staring for a moment longer, before Spock broke his gaze and headed out of Sickbay with Kirk. Khan was fixated on him, he did not acknowledge McCoy or turn back to see Nyota, he merely followed after the Commanders.

They walked fast down the corridor, but Khan was faster. He caught up to Spock and grabbed him by the scruff, twisting one of his arms up behind his back and shoving his face into a wall.

"Do you honestly expect me to believe that Nyota would actively seek out a situation that would endanger herself and our child's health?" He growled.

"Release m-!"

"Silence." Khan hissed, tightening his grip as Spock struggled. A few passing officers had noticed the commotion and all Kirk could do was try and stop a crowd from forming.

"I will be finding out _exactly _what happened between you both this evening and dealing with it accordingly, and if you want our working life to remain civil aboard this ship, you will not do anything that would upset my beloved again, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, _Captain._" Spock replied bitterly. Khan released him and he straightened out his uniform, turning to face him. They regarded one another for a hostile moment, before Spock suddenly threw a punch, his fist smashing squarely into Khan's face, sending him stumbling backwards.

Frightened gasps escaped from the small crowd that had gathered as Khan regained his balance. Kirk stood directly in their line of combat, holding his arms out.

"Stop!" He shouted. Khan was rumbling like a storm and Spock practically vibrated with rage. "You both need to cool down!" Kirk deftly started pushing Spock in the other direction. "You that way." He ordered Spock, "And Khan, go back to Uhura!"

Kirk was moving Spock on before they had a chance to throw more punches. He knew what they were like, and right now he feared they would actually kill each other. Khan stood, watching them go, personnel looking on in stunned silence.

"Show's over!" He barked, "Back to work!" Feet moved quickly around him and he returned to the medical bay.

xxxx

"Your blood sugar and general levels are fine, and baby's heart rate is steady, but I am still not happy with your blood pressure."

Nyota had sat up into a meditative position, her eyes shut again as she focused on her breathing.

"I'm trying to calm down, I really am." She whispered, still feeling teary as she re-opened her eyes. She was still tense.

It had not helped her nerves that Khan and Spock were now fighting, she was expecting them both to be back here any minute with bloody noses and broken bones, so when the Medbay doors opened and Khan walked back in alone and undamaged, Nyota was able to breathe a small sigh of relief.

Khan sat on the edge of her bed, he moved his jaw slightly, looking a little pained.

"Are you okay?" She asked him, hands caressing his face.

"Hm, Spock punched me in the face." He admitted.

"Why, what happened?"

"I couldn't let him get away with saying that about you, so I may have forcefully warned him about his actions."

Nyota sighed, at least it was milder than she had anticipated. Khan's gaze had drifted over to the monitors next to her.

"Your BP is still high." He read the screens.

"I know. I am anxious to tell you what happened. Bones?" She called him over to her. "My blood pressure is not going to budge until I have talked with Khan. Would it be possible for me to go back to our quarters for an hour or so, just so we can discuss everything?"

McCoy frowned. "I don't like it." He read her screens again, "Though, it has lowered a bit since he walked back into the room. Stand up for me." He instructed her, offering out a hand.

Khan got off the bed and Nyota carefully found her feet next to McCoy. He scanned her with a tricorder, lingering over her stomach, and checked the readouts.

"It's still a little high, but it's no longer at a dangerous level. You should be alright for an hour or so, but I want you to come straight back here after you've sorted everything so I can check up on you again, understand?"

"I understand." She agreed, "Thank you, Bones."

As soon as the door to their quarters sealed shut behind them, all the emotion Nyota had been trying so hard to control gushed out of her. Tears streamed down her cheeks and a sob wracked her body. She was still angry at Spock, and angry at herself for getting stressed out and collapsing. She felt selfish and sad for not considering her baby before arguing, and all round physically and emotionally exhausted.

Khan scooped her fragile frame into his arms and held her as she gripped his shoulders and cried into his chest. He rubbed a hand down her back and hushed her, hating seeing her in such a state.

"It's alright, my love." He soothed, "It's alright."

"No, it's not!" She managed, another sob hitting her, "Oh Khan."

He gently took her arms and led her over to the bed, sitting with her. "Relax, darling, breathe. This is not helping you. Talk to me."

Nyota took several deep breaths and wiped her eyes. Resting her hands on her stomach, she managed to regain some control of herself.

"Spock had already figured out I was pregnant." She told him, "He was fairly neutral about it, he didn't offer me any comment good or bad. What stressed me out was, he," She sniffed and a few more tears toppled down her cheeks. Khan was patient with her. "He mentioned the Vengeance crew."

Urgency mixed into Khan's soft expression.

"What was said? What can you remember exactly?"

"Everything. But I didn't stay conscious long enough to get any answers from him." She whispered, "He knows what's happened to our family and what the Admiral has done with them. I was so stunned that he knew, and by my own ignorance to have not thought that he would in the first place that I just got so mad."

Khan listened quietly, not offering any reaction yet.

"He said 'if I was not already aware of their circumstance, then he was not at liberty to discuss the matter with me'. I yelled at him, demanded to know because of all the hurt it has caused us, but he wouldn't tell me, then I collapsed."

Nyota took another deep breath, feeling better to have told him, but still miserable and exhausted. Tears escaped her again.

"I just feel so drained, and selfish for getting so worked up, not sparing a thought to how our baby might react."

Khan embraced her again.

"Do not think like that. It was a reaction to a difficult situation and it was not your fault." He reassured her, "Spock is the selfish one here; he would have known that mention of the Vengeance would be a trigger for your emotions, and he had no right to put you through that ordeal."

"I did pry, though. Push him." She confessed.

"As any other person in your place would have, pregnant or not."

Nyota felt heavy in Khan's arms. Having recounted her story to him, her mind was no longer racing, and the weight of emotional fatigue was hitting her.

"I should get back to Bones." She said sleepily. She tried to move herself from Khan's arms, but he was stronger than she was, and comfortable.

"No, you do not." He said gently, noticing her weariness. He carefully eased her back onto the bed to rest. "I will call him here."

He kissed her, brushing her hair out of her face and got up to send a message to McCoy from the rooms computer.

"Khan?" Nyota looked over to him and he returned to her. "Don't confront Spock yet. I know you are going to, but I want to be there when you do."

"Darling, I do not think that is such a good idea."

"No! I want to be there. If I am prepared for it, it won't stress me out again." She argued tiredly, "I need to know, I have to…"

"Alright." He soothed her. "I will not do anything until tomorrow."

"Promise me?"

"Promise." He took one of her hands in his and kissed it. "You are my priority tonight."


	21. Chapter 21

**Hello lovely readers! Thanks so much for following the story and for all the reviews you have given me! I really do love to hear your reactions! We****'****ve still got a way to go yet, so I think this one is going to be a bit longer than the last two! Enjoy the next chapter and happy reading. Much love to you. :)**

After Kirk had managed to drive Spock away from his hallway confrontation with Khan, they had ended up in a quiet corner of the rec-lounge. They sat in silence for a while, and as the hour grew late, the lounge emptied of other personnel. Kirk poured two glasses of Terran Brandy from the now empty bar and handed one to Spock. He awoke from is thoughts and frowned at the bronze liquid.

"What are you trying to prove, Spock?" Kirk asked him quietly as he sat back down and sipped his drink.

"Prove?"

"To Uhura, to everyone?"

"I am not trying to _prove_ anything."

"You can't pull that over on me," Kirk replied, "You might think you're good at hiding your emotions, but you forget, I'm human, and once we know someone we can see things instantly, regardless of species."

Spock sighed sharply, holding Kirk's gaze for a moment before taking a drink of his brandy. Kirk was mildly surprised at the action, but it said a lot about how he must be feeling.

"I am not open to discussion."

"I think you are after what you said in the MedBay, and punching Khan in front of all those other officers." He recounted, "C'mon, Spock. I'm your friend."

Spock took another sip of drink and stared at one of his armrests. Kirk let silence sit between them again.

"I regret that Nyota got upset by my mention of the Vengeance crew." He admitted, "I did not intend to stress her, but I did not know she was unaware of the full story."

"Even so, surely you knew bringing that up in the first place was going to strike a chord with her?"

"I know, and I confess that I acted on an impulse in an attempt to control my other emotions." Spock told him, "I thought perhaps changing the subject to that of the Vengeance crew would spare me of other feelings."

"Did that work?"

"No, it did not. It was an illogical reaction to the situation that created an outcome worse than the one I was already dealing with."

Kirk sighed and knocked back more of his drink. "'Other feelings'?" Spock was quiet again, for a longer moment this time.

"I still love her, Jim." He said, staring into his drink. "I thought that during her time in cryostasis, my feelings for her had finally subsided, but when I saw her again after she was awoken…"

"It all came flooding back…"

"In a manner of speaking, yes." He paused, "I find it difficult to see her with Khan, and now that they have conceived a child together."

"Jealousy is not a pretty trait, Spock."

"Jealousy is one of the milder emotions I feel regarding Nyota and her situation. I am concerned for her."

"Concerned? About what?" Kirk asked, thinking a moment, "After all this, you still don't trust Khan?"

"No, I do not." He said bluntly, "I am afraid that he could hurt her. It does not take much to trigger his temper or alter his mood, so what if something were to change him?"

"I don't think anything could change him enough to leave Nyota, or stop him caring for her. You've seen what he's like, even witnessed first hand the lengths he'll go to to defend and protect her." Kirk said, "I know it's not what you want to hear, but he loves her too."

They fell silent again, both finishing their brandy.

"There are numerous things I want to change about the past." Spock aired, "It is illogical to have these thoughts, but I find myself contemplating a different outcome for myself and for Nyota."

A smile twitched at the corner of Kirk's lips, "Supposing realities. 'What ifs'. They can kill you if you start going down that road."

"An idea cannot kill you, Kirk."

"Can't it?"

Spock was about to explain, but realised perhaps they were not speaking literally. He sighed.

"I do not know how I should proceed. The likelihood of ever reconciling with Nyota on any level is close to nought. After everything, I do not think she will ever forgive me."

"Then I'm sorry, Spock," Kirk spoke quietly, "But the only option you have left is to let her go."

xxxx

Nyota awoke the next morning to a horrible pain.

"Oh my God!" She cried, turning out from Khan's embrace. His eyes flew open and he was immediately alert.

"Nyota!?" He startled, his concern grew as she cried out again.

"Cramp!" She yelped as she tired to move her leg. Khan threw the bed covers aside. "Right leg! It's so bad!" She grimaced and pointed frantically to her knee and her foot. Khan set to work massaging her calf and moving her ankle joint, starting to relieve the shooting pains. Nyota groaned, sighing heavily.

"Oh that's good." She breathed as Khan's hands worked the feeling back into her leg and foot, she sighed again.

Khan began laughing quietly at her sounds of relief, fingers still rubbing her skin, "Don't scare me like that!" He exhaled. Nyota giggled.

"I'm sorry, It really hurt!" She smiled, feeling a bit ridiculous now, considering child birth would be a million times worse than cramp.

"Better?" He asked, she sat herself up and rolled her ankle.

"Much better." She leaned forward and kissed him. "Thank you."

He smiled, "I think you might have awoken the entire ship though."

She hit him softly, "You get pregnancy cramp, then we'll see who yells loudest!" She laughed and got out of bed.

"How are you feeling?" Khan watched her as she stretched out in her underwear. "Besides the cramp."

She hadn't thought about it yet, her mind had been preoccupied for the first few minutes of her awakening.

"Physically, I'm good. Mentally… I am a little anxious."

"Are you sure you want to confront Spock again with me?" Khan asked, getting out of bed and pulling the covers straight.

"Absolutely." She replied. "I can't leave things as they are now. I need to finish that conversation, whether we get anything out of him or not."

"Oh we will get the truth out of him, I assure you." Khan walked around the bed toward her, his expression determined. He took her hands and lead her toward the bathroom. "Shower?" He asked, grinning. Nyota hummed.

"Good idea."

Nyota had discovered an interesting and more pleasant side to her pregnancy so far; an increased libido. She had always enjoyed good sex with the right person, and with Khan, it never failed to be mind blowing. Plus, being an augment gave Khan more endurance, and he was always more than happy to satisfy her needs, especially when she wanted more.

Searching for a new uniform from the wardrobe, Nyota felt the most relaxed she had felt in days. Khan crept up behind her, wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her neck, humming as he kissed her soft skin. She laughed as the vibrations of it tickled her.

An alert from the rooms computer broke them apart. Khan released her and strode over to check the message.

"What is it?" She asked, pulling on a dress.

"Spock has requested a meeting with me in the conference room at 0800 hours." He turned to her, surprised. Her expression mirrored his.

"Strange that he would offer himself up like that."

"My thoughts exactly." Khan replied, and confirmed the message before moving to grab some clothes to pull on.

"I'm still coming with you." Nyota told him as she put on a pair of red earrings. She was curious now.

xxxx

Spock was already waiting patiently in the large, soundproof room when Khan walked through the door, followed by Nyota. Spock's gaze drifted to her and he frowned.

"Is your presence here really a good idea, Lieutenant?"

"Yes." She replied instantly, taking a seat and folding her arms. He stared at her a moment.

"Captain?" He questioned Khan about her firmness.

"You are welcome to try and force her to leave," Khan replied, taking a seat next to her, "But I'm afraid she does bite."

Nyota tilted her head, raising an impatient eyebrow at Spock who reluctantly gave up on the matter and sat on the opposite side of the table.

"I am curious that you _asked _to see me, Commander?" Khan commented.

"I knew that it was highly likely you would want to see me after what happened yesterday between myself and Nyota, and the threat you issued me with; so I thought best to proceed with our discussion early, so we may get back to the work we have been sent here to do."

"Yes," Khan nodded once, "A good idea."

"I regret what happened to you yesterday, Nyota. Especially as the event could have been entirely avoided."

"'Entirely avoided'?" Nyota sniped at him, "It would only have been entirely avoided if you hadn't mentioned anything."

"The Vengeance Crew, Spock." Khan interjected before they had a chance to argue about what happened. "Where are they? What has happened to our family?"

"Nothing has changed in the past fifteen hours." Spock hesitated, "I am still not at liberty to tell you the details. I am merely willing to offer my side of what happened yesterday in order to, 'clear the air', as you might say."

"So, me collapsing and almost having a complete nervous breakdown is still not enough of a change for you to realise just how important the information you have is to us?" Nyota stated, shocked at his lack of understanding.

"Mr. Spock," Khan began slowly. "You will not be leaving this room until you have told us what you know. Commander Kirk has happily taken over temporary command of the Entrada, and I warn you not to test my patience in situations of information extraction."

"You believe this method of holding me here like a prisoner is going to make me tell you anything?"

"The way I see it, Commander, is you have two options; One: we sit here and we discuss it, quietly, with an amount of respect between each other. Or two: I redecorate this room with lashings of your green, Vulcan blood, and I will not stop until you talk."

"The latter of those options would be stressful for Nyota to bear witness to, don't you think?" Spock faulted him. Khan smirked.

"Then with her best interest in mind, perhaps you should opt for the former?" Khan suggested, playing on the feelings Spock still had for his beloved in order to get what he wanted. Spock sat silently, gaze drifting between both of them, sizing up his situation.

"Are you familiar with the phrase, 'don't shoot the messenger'?" Khan asked.

"A phrase derived from the work of William Shakespeare's Henry the Fourth from 1598."

"Yes, the term still has significant usage, even after all these centuries." Khan said, "I am willing to apply it to our situation here, if you are willing to cooperate with my terms. You are merely a source of information, you are not, as far as I'm aware, responsible for what happened."

Spock's gaze flicked to the table and he clenched his jaw. He said nothing.

"Oh my God…" Nyota said after too long a pause, studying Spock's subtle expressions carefully. "You are, aren't you?" She whispered. Khan frowned at her before slowly looking back to the Vulcan. Spock met her gaze, eyes distant. "You are somehow responsible…"

"The night you were awoken, Khan foolishly came to argue with me before he set out to find you." Spock told her, "He made his intentions quite clear to me, so when I heard a few hours later of the commotion in London from a break in at the Vaults, I was able to inform the Admiral of who was responsible." He met Khan's eye, "The Admiral then dealt with the situation accordingly."

Nyota glanced at Khan, whose presence had grown with fierce magnitude as he sat, eyes boring into Spock and fists clenched tightly in his lap. Spock had ratted him out to their superiors once again. The Vulcan sat perfectly still, expression unfazed.

"The Admiral has terminated the lives of your crew. I do not know how, or where; all I know is that they are dead."

Nyota caught her breath, tears filling her eyes and a hand flying to grip Khan's arm. Spock's unyielding pose was positively rude. He played a part in the fate of the lives of the people Khan and Nyota loved most in the world, and he showed not even the slightest hint of remorse. Khan had been dangerously silent for a long minute.

"Nyota," Khan eventually said calmly, very calmly. "I think now would be an appropriate time for you to leave, my darling. Go and rest."

She rose to her feet, speechless, and gently touched Khan's shoulder.

"I'll be in our quarters." She whispered, glancing at Spock as she turned to leave and feeling utterly repelled.

The conference room door sealed shut behind her. She knew what was about to happen now, and was going to do absolutely nothing to stop it.


	22. Chapter 22

Nyota exhaled and got up off the bed to pace the room, she felt too upset and fidgety with nerves to rest. She had left Khan and Spock in the conference room over an hour ago, and heard no word from either of them since. Fears had started filling her mind; she shouldn't have left them, she should have warned Khan against beating the crap out of Spock, because if he has, it was undoubtedly going to create a whole new set of problems for them.

The door alert buzzed and the panel to their quarters slid aside, she had left the door unlocked. Kirk stepped in the doorway.

"Sorry to intrude," He said, looking more anxious than Nyota had ever seen him, "But you need to come to the MedBay with me."

She was hardly surprised that Kirk had turned up to tell her to go to Sickbay, yet as they made their way there, she grew more anxious about just what they were going to be faced with.

McCoy was huffing and muttering as he busily ordered nurses and doctors around, the atmosphere palpably tense as other patients and medical officers looked on with confusion and mild fear.

"Holy shit." Kirk commented as he walked into the commotion with Nyota.

Khan and Spock were situated on far opposite sides of the room from each other, with small teams of armed security members surrounding them both. Spock was completely battered, and Khan looked the worst Nyota had ever seen him. She stopped before the centre of the room, hands covering her mouth to stop a gasp from escaping. Kirk put an arm around her shoulders to steady her.

"You alright?"

"Yes." She took a breath.

Spock's face was numerous shades of green as bruises formed around his eyes and over his cheeks, and blood poured from his nose and lips. He had cuts over both of his cheeks, and blood soaked into his hair. Several nurses were dressing his left shoulder, whilst two others attended his bruised ribcage and bleeding right forearm.

Khan's right eye was black and blue, the bruising spreading over the bridge of his nose and down to his cheek. He had a large cut that started above his left eyebrow and ran down his temple to his cheekbone. His nose was also bleeding and his bottom lip was split, as two nurses were carefully tending to his battered knuckles. Nyota immediately crossed the room to him.

"I'm alright." Khan said as she got to his side. He tilted his head back, pinching paper towels to his nose. "No major damage done. I'll start to heal up soon." His gaze drifted across to Spock. "Not sure about him though." He rumbled quietly.

The nurses finished with Khan's hands, and one left to attend other patients, leaving the other to tend to the cut on his face. He winced as she cleaned it, but once the blood was washed away, it did not look as bad as Nyota had feared.

She studied him closely, fingers ghosting over his bound-up knuckles before moving to hover over the bruise covering his eye. Worry lines creased her forehead.

"No worrying." He whispered, gently touching two fingers to her brow where he would have kissed away the lines if he had not been so bloody. Nyota exhaled.

"This is bad, Khan." She whispered, "How are Starfleet going to react when they find out about this?"

"I really do not think Spock is about to tell on me again, not now, especially since he has provided us with information that was supposed to be classified." He reassured her, "There are penalties he would face, and he wouldn't want to tarnish his reputation now, would he?"

Nyota still wasn't sure, but someone interrupted her chain of thought.

"Captain." A voice said from behind her, she turned to find Lieutenant Keats had entered the MedBay. She tried to suppress her horrified look as she addressed Khan. "A private message has come through communications, Sir, from General Wells. I've transferred it through to your quarters computer, it's marked with urgency, so I thought I would let you know."

"Thank you, Lieutenant." He responded. Keats did not hang around to look at the mess. Nyota drew in a sharp intake of breath as she turned her attention back to Khan, her face had re-crumpled with worry.

"I'm going to go and read it." She said. "It's been nearly two days since you sent word; the suspense is too much."

Khan sighed, "Alright. I will be along as soon as I can."

Nyota leaned in and gently planted a kiss on his bruised cheekbone, before heading back for their quarters.

xxxx

The message was waiting on the computer on the wall. The General's name filled a red outlined box that flashed on the screen. She gazed at the blinking outline a moment, steeling herself as she opened it.

_Khan,_

_I appreciate you informing me of Lieutenant Uhura__'__s pregnancy, but hope you understand that I was not able to keep this information to myself, as much as I may have wanted too. _

_The Admiral has viewed the report I received from you and is making decisions regarding yourself and Nyota__'__s positions within Starfleet and the current mission. He is also accounting for the particular uniqueness of the child that you have conceived together, and, from what I have managed to gather so far about his thinking, I believe he is going to try and establish a bargain for your situation if allowances are made toward being able to study the child. _

_Whilst you are still away from Earth, I shall endeavour to do my best to keep you updated with the Admiral__'__s plans. Give my regards to Nyota. I apologise for not being able to give your news the positive reception it deserves. _

_General. H. Wells._

Nyota's hands had found their way to her stomach, subconsciously protecting her unborn child from the Admiral and the intentions he already had for it. She desperately tried to control her breathing as she backed away from the screen, repulsed by the words, the very notion of the idea.

The back of her knees hit the end of the bed and she sank down to the mattress. She hadn't even realised she was crying until tears fell onto her hands and into her lap, her mind was petrified with thoughts of what the Admiral wanted to do to the baby, how he would _study _it. Anger began rising in her chest, this was_ her_ baby, an innocent, unborn life who had done no wrongs. No one was going to be studying or doing anything with her precious child.

She didn't know how long she had been sat on the end of the bed, hands shielding her stomach as she stared blankly at the screen on the wall which still displayed the General's message. Khan strode in and awoke her from her trance. He looked better; his cut was smaller now, the bruising was beginning to subside and his knuckles had been lightly bandaged. Concern washed over him as he found Nyota, stunned, face streaming with tears.

"Darling?" He rushed to comfort her, but she directed him to the screen.

"Read it." She choked out, pointing at the computer.

She rose to her feet as Khan stood at the comm, one hand still on her stomach, the other reached out for his shoulder. She needed him to ground her, to feel his presence and let contact provide her with some form of support. His hand found the small of her back as he finished reading the message, jaw clenched and eyes piercing the screen. He looked to her desperately, and another sob left Nyota's body.

"Listen to me," He said, tone anxious but his determination took hold as he wrapped his arms around her, touching his forehead to hers. "They are not going to do anything to our child. I will not let them get to you, or our baby, I promise you. I would kill every one of them before I let them turn our child into some kind of _science experiment_." He was bordering on rage, but took a deep breath for Nyota's sake.

"I'm not even five months and they have already condemned our baby." Her voice shook. "How can they do this?"

"They cannot. And they will not." He told her. "I will do everything in, over, and above my power to ensure you are both safe. You are the only family I have left and I will protect you."

"Promise me you won't do anything without me." She asked of him, "Promise you won't do anything to endanger yourself in exchange for our protection, because I need you, okay? I need you here with me, our baby needs you too, and it would destroy me if they took you away from us." She cried, "I can't lose you again."

"I'm not going anywhere." He assured her, "I promise you, my love."

Nyota exhaled, tucking herself tightly into his embrace. Khan relaxed a little as the initial shock of the information was wearing off.

"Fortunately, we have the complete upper hand here." Khan said, thinking through and creating options for them. "We are together, away from Earth, you've still got a long way to go with your pregnancy, and the Admiral can do nothing but spout words and pose agreements."

Nyota wiped her face and stepped out of Khan's embrace, straightening her posture and taking a deep breath. He was right, of course he was. Whilst they were here and the child was unborn, there was almost nothing Starfleet could do to them.

"I think it may help if we accumulated a few allies." He suggested.

"What do you mean?" She frowned.

"If it is me and you against the Fleet, we will be fighting a difficult battle." He began, "But this situation already extends beyond us, to the life we have created, and to the people who know about it. Doctor McCoy, for example; he is in charge of your medical records and in monitoring the health of our baby. In a way, he is already 'studying' the child, so I imagine the Admiral would be very keen to talk to him, or to request your medical reports from him."

"What about doctor/patient confidentiality?"

"Do you really think the Admiral would care about that?" Nyota sighed, he continued. "We need to inform McCoy; give him the heads up on what is happening, and if he is even half as conscientious a man as he seems, then he will likely be as disgusted by the Admiral's request as we are."

Nyota nodded slowly, "So that's one ally." She was starting to see what Khan was thinking. Having a few people on their side who knew about the Admiral's plans could be ultimately helpful to them. "Only five other people on the ship apart from you and me know. Would that be enough to be on our side?"

"In this situation, I think so. We need to be selective, if too many people know they could turn against us, but if its people we trust, people who want to protect you and our child as I do, then they will help us."

"I want Kirk on our side too." She said, "I know he is a little crazy and full on, but it could be just what we need against the Admiral."

"His driven nature could be helpful." Khan agreed, "And I know he cares about you. We will start with them and see what they can offer us."

xxxx

"This is bullshit. This is absolute complete and total-"

"Yes Kirk, we know." Khan sighed, sat around a small table in a quiet corner of the rec-lounge with Nyota and Bones. He had transferred the General's message to his PADD so they could read it for themselves.

"I will let you know if I'm contacted by anyone, and I assure you I will not be giving out Uhura's or the baby's medical information." McCoy told them, face set sternly. "The Admiral can go find something sharp and scratchy to sit on…"

Khan put his arm around Nyota and she sighed, resting her head on his shoulder. "We have no further information yet, but it's nice to know you guys will help defend our child."

"Course we will." Kirk assured her, "Starfleet can't hound you both forever, and now, it's plain wrong to bring the kid into it."

A contemplative silence fell around them for a moment before McCoy spoke again.

"I know it's changing the subject, but I have to ask." He looked to Khan, "What the hell happened between you and Spock this morning? 'Cause he was quiet as a church mouse, and I have no idea what the hell to write in my medical log."

Nyota lifted her head from Khan's shoulder and met his gaze, having a silent conversation about whether or not to tell Kirk and McCoy what happened, and if they would even believe that Spock had been one of the causes for the loss of their family.

"We found out that Spock played a factor in the Admiral's actions regarding the Vengeance crew." Khan told Bones and Kirk quietly.

"What's happened to them? I thought they were all put back in stasis with you two after the war..?" Kirk asked carefully.

"They were." Khan told him, "But when I was re-awoken, I had a confrontation with Spock before I broke into the London Vault to steal Nyota. Spock informed the Admiral that I was responsible for the security breach, and naturally, the Admiral saw it fit to punish me for it by removing the rest of my crew."

"He took them and now they're all dead." Nyota whispered, "The Admiral has ended seventy-two lives just to try and break us. To gain control over Khan." She sniffed, holding back tears again. The others were shocked.

"I'm sorry Doctor," Khan addressed Bones' stunned face, "I do not know what you should log in your report either. I lost my temper knowing Spock's compulsion for reporting my every move had once again caused me pain. Caused us both pain."

"I can't believe Spock had-" Kirk stopped, troubled by the thought of Spock's involvement and unsure of what to say, but strangely not surprised. "I'm so sorry." Kirk offered them, "They were a good crew. Good people." He remembered from his time serving on the Vengeance during the war.

Khan merely nodded once. "That information is supposed to be classified, by the way, I trust you'll keep it to yourselves."

They both nodded in response, letting the news sink in.

"So, what happens now?" McCoy asked quietly after a moment.

"We must carry on. There is nothing I can do for my family anymore, so I must focus on protecting my new one." Khan sighed and kissed Nyota's forehead. "In the mean time, we continue with the work we have been sent to Orcus to do, and I will keep you both updated on any more messages we get from the General."


	23. Chapter 23

"Aw lass this is terrible, I am so sorry." Scotty said as he read the message on Uhura's PADD. "If there is anything I can do to help, you'll let me know, aye?"

"Sure." Nyota nodded. "Just having you on our side will be useful. I wanted to let the people I trust most know about it."

"That's good thinking. I'll let you know if I receive anything suspicious, so long as you'll keep me up to date?"

"Of course." She smiled at her friend. "Thanks, Scotty."

Nyota had decided she wanted Scotty to know about the Admiral's intentions along with Bones and Kirk. They were her closest friends from the Enterprise, and the people she had worked with longest in Starfleet. They were also among the few who knew the whole story of herself and Khan's relationship, and all the trouble they had faced from the federation since the beginning.

As she walked the corridors heading back to the bridge, she saw Spock walking toward her. She had not seen him since yesterday when himself and Khan were sat in MedBay being patched up. He still looked awful. His left arm was held up in a sling because of the fracture Khan had issued him with in his shoulder blade, and his face was still bruised and blemished with several slowly healing cuts. Nyota swallowed thickly, her expression crumpling a little. Spock had deserved it, but looking at him now, how he tried to stoically soldier on with his work, she couldn't help but feel bad for him.

"Lieutenant?" He asked as he neared her, professional as ever.

"Yes, Commander?" She cleared her throat.

"If you have a moment, would it be possible for me to speak with you privately?"

She sighed, her eyes hovering over all the damage to his features.

"Yeah, okay Spock." She nodded and he lead the way to somewhere quieter.

"I have not informed Starfleet of what happened yesterday, or of the injuries I have sustained from, or inflicted upon Khan." He told her.

"Because your neck is on the line too if you do?"

Spock let out a small sigh, thinking before replying.

"In part, but I doubt any punishment I received would be anything more than a reprimand."

Nyota rolled her eyes and exhaled.

"Nyota, that is not my reason for not informing Starfleet." He continued, "I have not told them because I can see that this act would land Khan in unquestionable amounts of trouble, yet the affects of his punishment would fall more harshly upon you and your wellbeing, than him."

"Yes, it would." She replied quietly, her hands finding her stomach. Mildly stunned by this show of compassion and understanding, she smiled. "Thank you." She whispered, "I am still mad at you because of your involvement, but I'm sorry that I let him beat the crap out of you. I regret that; I should have stopped him, calmed him down. It didn't do either of you any good."

"No." He agreed, "Or the conference room for that matter."

Nyota breathed a small laugh, "I guess. I haven't been in there again."

They stood, regarding each other a moment. Nyota was still unsure of her reaction, but her mind felt oddly settled, for now.

"I'd better go." She said, "Things to do."

Spock nodded and she left him. She would be interested to tell Khan about this later.

xxxx

Khan was typing furiously at the computer in their quarters. Nyota briefly glanced at the screen as she entered the room. From the message displayed, and his thunderous expression, Khan was obviously replying to the General.

Nyota walked over to him. She ran her hand over his shoulders, reading some of the message he was composing.

'_You__'__re willingness to offer information is kindly received__'__, __'__If the Admiral thinks__' __, _foul language '_then he is absolutely__'_, foul language. '_I assure you no one will be getting to Nyota, our child or myself.__'_

The message was long, she didn't bother reading the whole thing. She knew the gist already and was sure Khan would summarise it for her later. He hit send and exhaled, turning to her, his expression firmly set with annoyance and contemplation, but brow creased slightly with worry. Nyota leaned up and kissed his forehead.

"No worrying." She said. Khan relaxed a little. "I have some interesting and positive news, for a change." She smiled.

"Oh?" He was intrigued, forgetting what had occupied his thoughts a few moments ago.

"Well I ran into Spock earlier, and he told me he isn't going to inform Starfleet about the fight you two had."

"Because his neck is on the line too…"

"That's what I said," She continued, "But he told me that wasn't his biggest reason for not telling. His main reason was because he knew if you got into trouble, it would badly affect me."

Khan raised his eyebrows and looked as if he was about to say something, but changed his mind.

"Yes it would." He agreed, thinking again. "It is… considerate of him to take on board your well being." He said plainly, thinking about the conversation he had in the corridor with Kirk the other day, and what he learned about Spock and his feelings.

"Yeah, I'm still a little stunned by the turn around in his… emotions I guess." She pondered. "This is just what we need though, for him to keep things to himself, to finally start recognising that my well being is important now."

Khan had not said anything, but his expression had fallen back into the annoyed one that occupied his features when she first walked into the room.

"What's wrong?" Nyota asked.

"I hope his recognitions do not extend too far." Khan said quietly. She frowned, confused.

"Khan? I-"

"Kirk spoke to me a few days ago. He knows that Spock still has feelings for you. That he still loves you, even."

Nyota studied his face a moment, slightly taken aback. She hadn't seen this expression in a long time, not since they had first met aboard the Enterprise and were playing their games; but Khan looked jealous.

"Hey," She stepped closer to him and took his face in her hands. "I don't care if he still has feelings for me, it's not going to change anything." Khan's hands found her waist and he sighed. "I love you more than anything in this world, and now we're having a child, I love you even more than I ever thought possible."

"I love you too." He kissed her. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." She whispered, "I'd be jealous if one of your ex's was on ship and still had feelings for you."

Khan chuckled. "Well you don't need to worry about that. Any ex-lover of mine is long dead. Centuries have passed."

"Good." Nyota smiled and he returned it. She kissed him again and stepped out of his hold, walking over to retrieve her PADD from the table where she had left it this morning. "Also, I wanted to let you know-"

She stopped short, suddenly surprised.

"Nyota?" Khan was concerned as he moved over to her. She turned back to face him, expression stunned and hands over her stomach.

"Feel." She said, quickly grabbing one of his hands, placing it on the side of her small bump and covering it with her own. The baby kicked them. Nyota gasped a laugh. "Oh my God!" A grin had spread across Khan's face.

"You've only just begun your fifteenth week." He wondered, "It's a little early for kicking, usually that occurs at sixteen or eighteen-"

"But this is not a 'usual' baby." She smiled, cutting him off.

"No, it's not." Khan returned. "We should take you to see Bones. Get him to check you out and see just how well our child is doing."

xxxx

"Movement in a healthy baby can occur from as early as thirteen weeks in some women." McCoy told them as he scanned her stomach with a tricorder. His eyes were darting over readouts on the screen above her head. "Your baby is certainly healthy, and very strong already, but that's hardly surprising considering the father."

Nyota squeezed Khan's hand and he smiled down at her.

"Y'know, I can tell you the sex if you'd like?" Bones looked to Uhura.

"Yes."

"No."

Nyota and Khan said simultaneously. She looked up to him.

"You don't want to know yet?" She glanced back to McCoy. "Okay, n-"

"Yes."

"Well which is it?" Bones asked confused. Nyota laughed and Khan met her gaze.

"I think we should, it would make it that much more real."

"Alright." He smiled.

"Yes." She said again to McCoy. He momentarily scanned her again, watching the screen carefully.

"Well, you two are gonna have a daughter."

Nyota grinned from ear to ear. "A girl." She whispered, squeezing Khan's hand again as tears prickled her eyes. Khan was beaming, and even McCoy couldn't help smiling.

"It's good to see you two happy." He commented. "Everything is absolutely fine with her growth and progress, movement is nothing to be worried about. You need to come see me straight away if you feel anything abnormal or any pain, and definitely no getting stressed out."

Uhura sat up, pulling her clothing straight.

"I will keep you informed, and keep out of trouble as best I can." She assured him.

"I will make sure of it." Khan seconded, helping her to her feet.

They made their way out of the MedBay hand in hand. Nyota was in a blissful daze.

"We're having a daughter." She smiled, not quite believing it.

"I know." He returned, "And she will be as beautiful as her mother."

Nyota nudged him bashfully with her shoulder.

"Or her father."

Khan smiled. "What were you going to tell me before the baby kicked you?"

"Oh, um." She thought. The conversation they were having in their room merely half an hour ago felt like it happened days ago. "I was just going to say that I spoke to Scotty this morning, and he is on our side against the Admiral too."

"Excellent." They entered the lift together. "I must head to the bridge, do you want to continue your work for the day, or would you prefer to rest after our news?"

"Y'know I think I'm gonna rest." She smiled softly. "I'll check in with Keats first, just to see what's happening, and I'll finish the reading I was analysing earlier, but then… I'm going to have a bath."

As Nyota lay in the warm water beneath the bubbles, hair pinned up in a messy bun and skin soaking up the soft fragrances of her soap, she reflected upon her mood. For the first time in a long while, she felt almost completely at ease. They were making excellent progress with the frequencies; her team had managed to start recognising the different pitches and tones within the creatures information to distinguish whether what was being said was positive or negative. This would then help them to decipher the content and intentions of the information stored by the creatures in the trees. Most of the crew aboard the ship knew that she was pregnant, it was becoming more obvious by the day, and even though the Admiral may already be devising schemes to anguish herself and Khan, she did not feel threatened, because she was with the man she loved and for the first time, they had extra support from the people who cared about her.

The only thing saddening her mood was the loss of the Vengeance crew. They had only found out yesterday, but she felt as if they had not had any real time to come to terms with it, to grieve their loss, since they were distracted by news from the General. Nyota worried about Khan. He seemed a little torn today, swaying between different emotions. She didn't doubt that the happiness he had for news of their daughter was not genuine, but she was concerned about how he was taking on board all the other news they had received, and where he was channeling his anger and his sorrow.

xxxx

"I'm worried about you."

Nyota was in her dressing gown when Khan finished his shift for the day, her hair still in its messy bath bun, strands of it falling loose and curled with the humidity from the warm water. Khan's eyes rested upon her comfortable presence.

"Why?"

"Because of all this news; the Admiral's threats, the fact that you have just found out your entire family is dead…"

"They were your family too."

"I know, and I loved them as you did, but I have not experienced or had the years that you had with them, everything you went through together."

Khan exhaled and sat on the edge of their bed, running his hands through his hair. She joined him, tucking her legs up on the mattress to face him, her hands finding his shoulders.

"You're so concerned in not stressing me out, I'm worried you're stressing yourself out by trying to control how you feel about everything." She said gently. "What I'm saying is; you don't have to be strong for me all the time, my love."

He turned to her, eyes heavy with exhaustion and starting to pool with tears.

"I want to protect you." He grit his teeth, "I _need _to protect you."

"And you are." She stroked his hair, "But you need to let me shoulder some of your burdens, or they'll eat away at you."

A few tears rolled down Khan's cheeks as he tried to blink them away. He nodded, wrapped his arms around her body and held her, burying his face in her neck.

"I love you." She soothed. "Our daughter is going to love you too, and until we get to meet her, we can handle this all together."


	24. Chapter 24

Two months had passed with little word from the General of any updates about the Admiral's plans. The Entrada's work pace had picked up, and communications had deciphered the information from the creatures and the trees, developing a way of reading the animals language and the data they had stored. The links in the trees was a network, and their language used pulse rates and tonal frequencies to catalogue all the information they drew from the planet. The Entrada's crew arrival had been stored and shared negatively, and they found pieces of information that coincided with every single time a crew member had been on the surface. It solved the frustrating mystery as to how the creatures always found out humans were on their planet, and how they could never get much work done before being pounced on. Working it out, Nyota had managed to devise a time scale by figuring out the average length of time personnel had been able to work for on the surface before being attacked. Thirty to thirty-seven minutes was the opportune window for working, and Khan had ordered everyone who went to the planets surface to base their mission around a thirty-minute time frame. Fewer casualties had been coming in, and expeditions were turning out to be much more successful. Yet the seasons on Orcus were changing; the luscious landscapes and scenery were dying, and the planet grew dimmer. Daylight hours were reducing and the temperatures had significantly dropped. Winter was upon them, and bringing entirely new elements to analyse.

Doctor McCoy had been privately contacted twice within the last week, coinciding with Nyota entering her seventh month of pregnancy. He had received what looked like an ordinary Starfleet request for updating personnel data and medical files on Nyota, yet usually these requests were sent individually to the person whose record needed updating for them to then amend their own files, they were not entrusted to someone else.

"I don't like it." McCoy gruffed, his arms folded as he stood around a computer in Sickbay with Nyota, Khan and Kirk. "It's suspiciously timed too, what with you entering your third trimester." He nodded at Uhura. "How would they know that? Do you think they've hacked my system?"

"If they had hacked your system why would they bother sending you messages at all?" Khan aired, "They would have all the information they need. It does seem strange, but all they know is that it's been several months, and that Nyota must be pretty far along."

"But you haven't replied to these, have you?" Nyota asked, one hand on her hip, the other over her protruding bump.

"Of course not, dammit!" Bones said abruptly, quickly offering Nyota an apologetic look for his outburst. "It might look like a Starfleet request, but I'm guessing it's come directly from the Admiral, just in disguise."

"Send both messages you have received over to my quarters computer." Khan told Bones. "I will pick them apart later, see if I can't trace a source from them."

"Two in the space of a week seems demanding, doesn't it?" Kirk thought, "I mean, if they are from the Admiral, then-"

The PADD Kirk had tucked under his armed alerted him.

"Well would you look at that?" He read the screen before holding the device up, showing the others. "One request for a first officers report detailing the specifics of Lieutenant N. Uhura."

"He could be more subtle…" Bones muttered.

"He's not going to stop, is he?" Nyota stared into nothing, frown creasing her brow. "He's gonna contact every person on the ship."

"Well who else besides us and Scotty know's about the Admiral's intentions?" Kirk asked.

"No one." She told him, "We wanted to keep it to the people we trusted most, who wouldn't betray us, but if every person on ship gets this message and they don't know, it could fool them. They might inadvertently give out something about me, even if it's just how many months I am, or what hours I'm working."

Khan's face was set as he started accessing McCoy's computer.

"I am tracing the source now." He said as he began working furiously. They watched with interest, "If I can pinpoint where the messages have been sent from I can put a transmission block in place, stopping the ship from receiving any communications from that source."

"Will that be enough?" Kirk asked.

"For now. If I work quickly I can set the restriction before the Admiral has a chance to send out messages to anyone else." He said, hacking, infiltrating and changing numerous things on the computer before him. "It will work for a while, until he realises his messages are not getting through and changes to a different source, but that should give us enough time to think of a way to combat him."

"I hope so." Uhura said, gaze transfixed by the workings on the computer screen.

A few minutes later, Scotty came striding into Sickbay, waving his PADD at them.

"I've received a very strange message." He began as he reached them. Kirk looked over his shoulder at the device. "Asking me for a personnel report with your details!" He addressed Uhura. "It's not very subtle, I'm a bloody engineer for God's sake."

"Bone's and I got one too." Kirk told him, "Khan's trying to block the source before the Admiral sends it out to anyone else."

"Done." Khan said, staring at the screen a moment before rising to his feet, eyes clearly running through a million thoughts. "I am going to address the crew."

Nyota was about to protest. She couldn't think of what they could tell the whole crew without telling them everything, but Khan already had an idea.

"No worrying." He told her, "I shall be directly discreet."

Khan strode purposefully out of the Medbay with Nyota, Kirk and Scotty following on behind. Scotty looked at Nyota and chuckled to himself.

"You're big today." He grinned.

"Shall I take that as a compliment?" She laughed.

"Absolutely! You are positively radiant. In fact, you're the first woman I have ever seen to actually have that pregnancy glow."

"That might just be because I am the first pregnant woman you've seen in a long time." She returned, stepping into the turbo lift with Khan and Kirk.

"Maybe," Scotty smiled, "But I'm sticking to my first answer."

On the bridge, Nyota took her seat at communications next to Keats, who slyly drifted a hand across to feel her tummy. Her gaze was still focused on her work but a giggle escaped her as she felt the life Uhura held within her. Nyota smiled and she soon removed her hand. She had been amazed at the response of the crew; the doubtful part of herself expect to received cautious glances and overhear suspicious mutterings of disapproval that she had gotten pregnant with Khan's child. Yet the opposite had occurred, and taken her pleasantly by surprise. Everyone smiled at her, or wanted to feel her tummy or get things for her. There was something about the idea of a child, an innocent life being aboard ship, that had made people seem happier and optimistic.

Khan had taken his seat in the captains chair and activated the ship wide comm.

"Crew of the Entrada this is the Captain speaking." He began, "I must ask you all to be vigilant of any messages you might receive asking for details regarding Lieutenant Uhura. If you find such a message reaches you, do not respond to it." His voice was clear and authoritative. "Instead come to me immediately. Thank you." He ended the message and the bridge personnel returned to work.

Spock was staring at him, frown fixed upon his face. He slowly got up from his station and approached him.

"May I enquire as to the details behind your announcement, Captain?" He asked. Khan met his gaze.

"No."

Uhura was watching and had approached them from her station. She placed a hand on Khan's shoulder.

"Maybe he should know…" She whispered. Khan moved his gaze to her, raising an eyebrow. "He did prove himself, he never filed a report on the fight you two had in the conference room." Khan's gaze drifted back to the Commander. Nyota raised her voice so Spock could hear. "And Spock know's that mine and our daughters safety is paramount, right?"

"Of course." Spock assured them.

"If we tell you and you turn against us again…" Khan rumbled a warning.

"I will not be turning against either of you, I give you my word."

Khan watched him a moment, analysing his truthfulness. "A few months ago we received word that the Admiral is planning to try and gain access to our child once she is born." He told him and Spock's expression hardened, gaze drifting over Nyota and her tummy. "As you may gather; I will be doing everything I can to assure that man doesn't get anywhere near Nyota or my daughter."

"I assume he has guessed that you will be unwilling to cooperate with his requests so he is extending his enquiries out to crew members of the Entrada? People who are within close proximity and knowledge of Nyota and her pregnancy?"

"Precisely, Mr. Spock. I have blocked the Admiral's message source, but he will soon find another way of getting to the crew. Hence the announcement, to give them a heads up."

"How do you plan to counter him in the long run?" Spock asked.

"I am accumulating multiple options." Khan's eyes were unfocused as he looked straight ahead.

"He hasn't told me any of them yet so don't hang around for immediate answers." Nyota told Spock as he stood waiting to hear them. She kissed the top of Khan's head and returned to her station. Spock too returned to his work.

xxxx

Khan's source block had worked and no one had received anything suspicious that asked for details of Nyota or her pregnancy for three weeks now. As Nyota neared her eighth month, she decided to reduce her workload. She would run the mornings away missions and do some analysing in the early afternoons, but anything much after 14:00 hours and pregnancy brain would set in.

"So, why do you have to go down there again?" Nyota asked Khan quietly as she stood in the transporter room with him, Kirk and some science officers standing on the pad behind him.

"Because I need to see this animal with my own eyes, in its own environment before the lieutenants even think of trying to catch one." Khan told her.

A new animal had appeared with the change of the season on Orcus. They had been found spawning from the lethal salt marshes, a creature about the size of a domesticated cat with wings, six legs, a tail twice as long as its body and skin that did not resemble skin, fur, scales, or any other kind of recognisable coat.

"Considering the point of origin, I am interested to see what's going on." Khan added. He had not been back to the salt marshes since the day they lost one of their lieutenants. The thoughts made Nyota shudder. Whatever life form was spawning there, it couldn't be good, or friendly.

"Just be careful. Please." She swallowed thickly.

"I'll be back as soon as I can. I promise." He kissed her deeply, reassuringly, before stepping up onto the pad next to Kirk.

"I got his back." Kirk nodded to her. She smiled to him, it gave her a little more confidence.

"The area around the marshes is clear." Spock had assumed command and was already talking to the team as Nyota got back to the bridge, seating herself and engaging her earpiece.

"_Are you seeing this?__" _Kirk's voice asked the bridge. He had taken a recording device to capture the animals flying around the salt marshes. Nyota glanced over to the screen, the animals looked positively creepy, bone-like. She shuddered again.

"Affirmative Commander." Spock replied.

Correspondence to the team had been running for a good ten minutes. Data, frequencies, footage, and analysis flooded into the room through communications and the ships computers. Observations and the mission was going well, when abruptly, all signals were lost.

"Khan? Kirk?" Uhura asked quickly as herself and Keats did everything they could to get them back.

Spock frowned, each station on the bridge was suddenly having problems reaching the away team. The view screen had disconnected all lines of communication and simply showed them the vastness of space.

"Mr. Scott?" He addressed the ships comm, "What is the status of power to the bridge?"

"Everythin's running fine, Sir." Scotty replied.

"I don't understand, something is jamming our signals." Uhura told the bridge.

"Cap-!" A helmsman began to alert them of something, when he suddenly no longer needed to. A large federation ship dropped out of warp fast as lightening, right before the view screen.

"Shields up." Spock ordered immediately, at least they were protected.

No one had time to think or even speculate as to what was happening. They were not hailed, a channel simply sprang to life before them and the familiar, yet unwelcome, face of the Admiral appeared before them all.

Nyota had risen to her feet, and Keats was still trying anything to establish contact with the away team on the planet, who would no doubt be more than a little worried by now.

"Well would you look at you." The Admiral found Nyota immediately. A fake, mildly disapproving, smile was plastered across his face and eyes were glued to her. She stood tall, placing her hands over her tummy. The Admiral's gaze flitted to Spock in the Captain's chair.

"Where is Khan?" He asked, tone suggesting he already knew.

"He is on Orcus." Spock said plainly. The Admiral smirked. "Yet I believe you already know that."

"We may have picked up your transport signal and assessed who was on the planet, yeah." The other man admitted. "Patch his communications through to us, will you?" He asked, looking at Nyota again.

"I can't." She sniped, "_Someone_ is jamming all my controls."

The Admiral looked off screen a moment, signalling one of his crew. Keats sprang to life behind her.

"Comms are back!"

"_Nyota!? Spock!?_" An anxious Khan demanded. _"__What__'__s going on? What happened to comms?__"_

"Khan…" Nyota steadied her voice. "Are you safe?"

"_Yes. As far as we can see, we are fine. What__'__s happening?__"_

"We've uh… we've got company."

"_Company..?__"_

Uhura looked to Keats who signalled them, successfully patching the Admiral's communications with Khan's.

"Hello Khan." The Admiral said smugly.

Khan was silent. Nyota knew that silence too well.

"_Beam us all back to the Entrada immediately.__"_ He ordered after a moment.

"We cannot. All our functions are being restricted by the Admiral." Spock told him. There was a pause as Khan took a breath.

"_May I enquire the reason for your presence, Sir?__" _He asked bitterly.

"Well, we received a report many months ago that a certain Lieutenant was expecting a child, but we haven't had any updates since then. It's been quite a while and I am simply concerned that it may be time for her to be taking maternity leave, wouldn't you agree?"

"Maternity leave?" Nyota scoffed.

"Absolutely, Lieutenant." The Admiral smiled and it made her feel sick. "A Starship is no place for a pregnant woman, surely you would prefer the comforts of Earth to have your baby?"

Nyota felt herself beginning to seethe. This man was carefully masking his intentions behind a saccharin facade of caring for her well being. She took a deep breath as the Admiral's eyes glanced over one of his ships screens.

"If Mr. Spock would be so kind as to drop those shields of yours, we would be happy to transport you across to our ship and take you back to Earth with us."

"_You are not having her. Spock, do not drop those shields.__" _Khan ordered him.

The Admiral studied Spock a moment, surprised at his apparent willingness to follow the orders of Khan, and not his Starfleet Admiral.

"You haven't changed sides now have you, Commander?" He asked him. Spock's arms were folded across his chest. "I am ordering you to drop your shields and let me take the Lieutenant."

"I am unsure that your intentions are truly in Lieutenant Uhura's best interests." He said. "I have not 'changed sides', my interests simply lie with protecting the health of an unborn child, and I believe it is up to Uhura to decide what is best for herself and her baby."

"Well, you're right there I suppose." He thought, leaning back in his chair, "Perhaps I can offer her an incentive, to help her make the right decision here."

Nyota glanced down at Spock, sharing an anxious look with him as they considered his meaning.

The Admiral barked an order to one of his lieutenants off screen. "Transport the Orcus away team back to the Entrada, but beam Khan to me."


	25. Chapter 25

**Hello lovelies! :) Just wanted to let you know that I have created a Tumblr blog! I will be posting Khan/Nyota stuff, my general ramblings, my writing progress on whatever I am creating, and other stuff. The link is on my profile page, so f****eel free to follow me there and I will follow you back. ****Enjoy the chapter. :)**

* * *

The Admiral had shut off the view screen communication and a signal appeared on the Entrada's screen, indicating the function of the transporter pad.

"Sir, all our communications and transporter functions have been restored. They've stopped jamming our signals." Keats informed Spock.

Nyota's eyes were glued to the blackness of space and the ship before them on the view screen, her hands shook and she tried her hardest to control her emotions. She couldn't get upset, not at this stage in her pregnancy, that would not be good for her daughter.

"Nyota." Spock said quietly, she tore her gaze from the screen and met his, exhaling. She hadn't realised she was holding her breath.

Kirk came running onto the bridge.

"What's happening?" He approached the centre of the room. "Holy shit." His attention was drawn to the ship facing them, but his hand managed to find Nyota's shoulder. "Uhura, you okay?"

"I don't know." She whispered.

"Lieutenant Keats, can you hail them?" Spock asked over his shoulder.

"I am sending them everything I can, Sir. They are choosing not to respond."

"What the hell do you think he is doing with Khan?" Kirk asked. "He can't kill him…"

Nyota held her breath again and gripped the sleeve of Kirk's jacket, crushing the leather in her fingers.

"Killing him would be illogical; if he did, he would have nothing to use to gain Uhura's cooperation."

"Spock!" Kirk called out on his insensitivity.

"No, he's right." Nyota breathed, "If he killed him straight off there would be no way they could get me to do anything." Her lip trembled.

"What can we do now?" Kirk sighed, wanting to act, do something.

"There is nothing we can do until the Admiral responds to our hailing frequency and reopens a channel." Spock said. "I suggest we keep our shields up."

A long few minutes passed. The bridge crew had ceased their work on the data from Orcus and anxiously awaited a response from the Admiral's ship. Nyota felt as if lifetimes had passed, her feet welded to a spot on the floor.

The view screen fizzled back to life, displaying the half empty bridge of the Admiral's ship. He stepped into view, dragging Khan with him and forcing him down to his knees. Khan's hands were cuffed behind his back as he looked back onto his ship and found Nyota.

"You have got yourself one loyal guy, Lieutenant." The Admiral was annoyed. "He is refusing to tell us anything!"

Nyota couldn't speak. She held Khan's gaze and saw fear in his eyes. He grit his teeth and struggled slightly against his hand restraints.

"This is what I'm gonna do, I'm going to make you a real fair deal here." The Admiral began addressing Uhura. "I'll let Khan go and return him to the Entrada, if you come over here and take his place." He said, like it was all so simple. "Or, if you turn down my offer," He stepped closer to Khan, grabbed a fistful of his hair and pulled his head back, bringing a knife he enclosed in his other hand to his throat. "I'll slit his throat right here and you can watch him die."

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" Kirk shouted at this man, "What kind of deal is that, you can't do this-!"

"Is that a 'no', I'm hearing then?" The Admiral said, pressing his knife in closer to Khan's throat.

"No, please stop!" Nyota exclaimed. "Please, please don't hurt him, please."

"Nyota…" Khan managed as the blade hovered back from him.

"Be quiet." The Admiral kicked him in the side of his ribcage. Nyota screamed as he doubled over.

"Lower your shields, let me beam her across." He spoke slowly, addressing them like they were idiots, Khan had managed to sit up again, yet Spock was reluctant to oblige.

"Spock." Nyota turned to him. "Do it."

"Uhura, this is not a good-" Kirk began.

"Jim!" She cut him off. "I have to, I can't let them hurt him." Tears were pooling in her eyes.

"Lower shields." Spock ordered eventually, gaze locked with hers.

They waited in silence, the crew each looking at Uhura with fear and worry, terrified for her and the baby. Energy encircled her, she took a deep breath and focused as the bridge changed from the bright white Entrada, to a smaller, blue hull. She energised in the middle of the bridge, spotting Khan on his knees in front of the view screen. As soon as she was able to move, she dashed around the comm to him before anyone could grab her, and dropped to her knees next to him, throwing her arms around him.

"Are you okay? Oh my God…" She kissed him.

"My love…" He replied, but two security guards had grabbed Nyota's arms and were picking her off of him, dragging her back. Khan snapped. "Unhand her for God's sake! This is no way to treat a pregnant woman!"

The Admiral observed her a moment before nodding to the security officers. They let go of her arms, and one simply placed a hand on her shoulder to remind her to keep still. A few tears escaped her as her hands found her stomach.

"Please, let him stay here." Nyota begged, "Just don't separate us."

"Sorry! That wasn't part of our deal." The Admiral said, walking back around to a comm station. "Say goodbye to lover-boy."

"Khan!"

He met her gaze and tried to get to his feet, but energy was already encircling him and he vanished from the bridge, appearing on the view screen on the Entrada's hull.

Kirk helped Khan to his feet as he reappeared on their bridge.

"Get these bloody cuffs off me!" He demanded. "Why can't you just take us both!?" He yelled back at the Admiral.

"You'll get in the way Khan." He told him. "You weren't willing to offer me any information, so I shall work with Nyota and take it from her instead."

"You touch her!" He yelled. "You lay a finger on her, or on my child and I will hunt you down!"

The Admiral laughed. Someone from engineering rushed onto the bridge with a pair of industrial bolt cutters and freed Khan from his restraints.

"You think anyone in the federation is going to let you get anywhere near me?" He questioned him, "After what you did to the last Admiral?"

"If Uhura gets hurt, I'll be coming after you as well!" Kirk spat.

"As will I." Spock too pitched in, and soon, the whole bridge was on Khan's side.

"I'm not going to hurt her, what good would that serve?" The Admiral countered, "Besides, hers and the child's health is what I am interested in. I'll have a chat with Uhura, and we'll see if we can't come to a little arrangement or two. Find a win-win situation for everyone."

With a smirk, the Admiral closed off communications to the Entrada.

"Shields up." He ordered one of his lieutenants. "I don't want them trying anything smart."

Nyota wiped her face and took a deep breath, mustering all the strength she could find.

"Lets go somewhere quieter, so we can talk." The Admiral said, approaching her. The security guards had let her go.

"I might be pregnant, but don't think for one second that I have forgotten how to fight." She hissed at him.

"Lieutenant." He held his hands up in a show of assurance, "I am honestly not going to harm you, or your child; I'm not a monster."

"Then what the hell was all that about!?" She demanded.

"I am not adverse to using tactical force in situations that require it, and with Khan, force is always required."

"With _you _force is always required. It's the only way you can gain control."

"You might wanna apply that to Khan."

"He doesn't use violence to control people; he'll kick your ass because you deserve it!"

"You really can't see him for who he is, can you?" He laughed.

"I know _exactly _who he is. It's you that still tries to label him as a criminal; creating ways of punishing him and making him the bad guy."

"Come with me." He reached out to grab her arm, but she evaded his hand.

"Don't you touch me." She growled. The Admiral eyed her a moment before gesturing toward the bridge doors.

xxxx

Nyota sat in the conference room of the little ship opposite the Admiral. She didn't know what class starship she was on, but it was very pleasant. The main rooms were smaller than an average fleet ship, and the colour scheme used hues of dark to powder blue. Her fingers cradled a glass of water on the table before her, she stared through the liquid at the warped colour of the table beneath.

"What do you want?" She asked quietly, breaking the scrutinising silence and looking up at him. "And don't lie, or sugar coat it, or skip around the point - just tell me what it is you're trying to get from us, trying to achieve."

"I cannot trust Khan, or you for that matter, Lieutenant." He said, "And now you have conceived a child… it's dangerous."

"Dangerous?"

"This child will be genetically unique; it will have some genes of a super human. It's personality, emotional state and development will be entirely unpredictable and different to that of regular humans. Who knows what tendencies it may have inherited from its father."

"Do you even understand how the concept of development works?" Nyota protested. "Every person is unique, superhuman or not, it doesn't make any difference. She will develop her-"

"She..?" The Admiral suppressed a smug grin at her lapse of tongue.

"Yes. _She_." Nyota cursed herself for letting the information slip, but continued. "She will develop her emotions and personality based around her upbringing."

"You honestly think that Khan is capable of bringing up a child?"

"Absolutely." She defended him. "He will be a perfect father."

"He is a murder and a manipulator."

"Only because you forced him to it!" She argued. "Yet after everything you have put Khan and I through in the past years; making us out to be war criminals, cryostasis, killing the Vengeance crew! … You have the audacity to sit there and act as if you are better than us?"

"How do you know about the Vengeance crew?"

"You really think we wouldn't figure it out?" She said, there was no need to tell him about how they confronted Spock. The Admiral sighed, but made no comment on it.

"Having a child does not excuse your past actions, Lieutenant." He told her, "But, it does complicate things. Already your crew mates are willing to side with you against me if any harm came to you or your daughter, and if word got out about any of this to the rest of Starfleet or normal civilians, then there would be more trouble than I can deal with. Yet because of both your past reputations, I cannot just sit by and do nothing."

"Yes, you can. You can leave us alone and let us get on with our lives in peace. We have a child to think about. I don't want to be fighting the Federation anymore."

"Then you will consider this; I leave you both in peace, in exchange for access to your daughter in order to study her genetics."

"Go to hell."

"Fine, we will commence with option two then." He told her impatiently, "I am taking you back to earth. I will wait until your daughter is born, declare you unfit to be parents, and then I will take her from you. No one will argue with this. She will be raised by the Federation and studied by genetic experts. You will never see her, and she will not know that you, or Khan, exist." He announced his decision, ending their discussion and getting to his feet to leave the room.

Nyota stood up and threw her glass of water at him. The liquid soaked him as the glass narrowly missed, and smashed against the wall next to him, shards flew everywhere.

"You bastard!" She screamed. "You are not!" The security guards who had been present in the room grabbed her arms. The Admiral threw her a disgusted look.

"Put her in the brig and get the doctor to run some scans and take blood." He ordered and Nyota was dragged away.

Nyota lay in a powder blue cell, defeated. Security had locked her up and the ships doctor had given her a mild sedative before she could think about throwing a punch. He scanned her and her stomach, and took a few blood samples. The Admiral would know everything about her child in a matter of minutes.

Closing her eyes, she could not fight the sleep induced by the drugs, as the ship warped her away from Khan and the Entrada, and back to Earth.


	26. Chapter 26

Khan was a nervous wreck.

The Admiral's ship had warped right before their eyes leaving no trace as to where they were going, but Earth was their only logical outcome.

"We are following them back to Earth. We're finished here." He barked, trying to read any possible navigation frequencies that the other ship might have left behind.

"You think the Admiral is not going to have perimeters up?" Kirk said, "There will be a whole fleet on guard."

"Kirk is right, Captain." Spock agreed, "The Admiral will have back up ready to attack if you try and intervene."

"So you're suggesting we sit here and do nothing?" Khan growled.

"Not nothing, but you can't afford to react quickly without thinking!" Kirk told him, "I know you are worried about her, we all are, but if we do anything without knowing more details, consequences will come down on her."

Khan took deep breaths and pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes, mind racing. He sprung back into action.

"Keats; send a private message to the General," He began his orders, "I want _all_ Earth's perimeters monitored; I want to know every single vessel in and out of the system, and get onto the Starship dock and find the ship logs. If we are going to get to Nyota, we need to know exactly where she is going to be."

xxxx

Nyota awoke in a shuttle. Someone had moved her from the brig on the Admiral's ship. Her mind felt hazy from the sedative as she sat up. A security guard watched her carefully, and a feeling of sickness washed over her. She let her head hang, covering her eyes and concentrated on her breathing.

"Shuttle crew prepare for landing." A voice announced, and the security officer moved to buckle her in, she let him, she feared she would throw up if she moved.

Nyota immediately knew where she was; San Francisco, Intelligence Base. She was taken to the medical room she had been awoken in and checked over by a female doctor, who offered her a sympathetic smile, and was the first person to treat her with kindness since she was taken from Khan and her friends on the Entrada.

Apart from feeling groggy, Uhura checked out fine, and the baby was still in perfect health despite the days ordeal. Her fluid levels were low, so the doctor had attached her to a small drip and let her rest for a while. Unfortunately, it was not long until the Admiral reappeared with a few security guards.

Nyota scowled at him as he conversed with the doctor. She was too tired to make out their mutterings, only picking out the words, 'blood pressure' and 'thirty-one weeks'. The Admiral approached her.

"We are taking you back to the apartment you shared with Khan where you can rest until tomorrow." He told her. "The doctor is going to give you another mild sedative, okay?" He asked, but it was not a question, the doctor had already jabbed her with an injector before she could protest.

She knew they were trying to keep her as docile as possible. They were scared that she would lash out or cause a scene if they didn't. People would definitely talk if they saw a pregnant woman being dragged about the place kicking and screaming. Nyota concentrated, she needed to stay awake, when she got back to the apartment she might be able to use their comm to get to Khan.

A guard placed her on her bed and left, sealing the door behind him. Nyota forced herself up off the mattress and carefully found her way through the darkness of the room. It was the middle of the night on Earth, and not helping her stay awake. She found their computer, the light from the screen dazzled her, momentarily jolting her awake.

Khan had used this computer several times when they lived here together, and she had seen him change things, hack the system, encrypt something here and there. This system had his security on it, so if she could find a signal for the Entrada, she may be able to contact them undetected.

"Keats?" She whispered, clearing her throat and forcing her eyes open. A few minutes work, that in her drug-addled mind felt like a few hours, and she had found the transmission she needed.

"_Uhura!?__" _She responded quickly, the sound of relief in her voice made her smile.

"Put me on screen." She said as she rubbed her eyes and straightened herself out.

"My darling!_" _Khan exclaimed. Nyota smiled woozily at him, feeling emotional to see him again. "What's happened? Where are you? Are you alright?"

"I…" Nyota took a breath, battling the sedative. "I'm in our apartment…"

"Uhura, you don't look good." McCoy was peering at her with concern.

"What have they done to you?" Khan demanded.

"They drugged me…" She replied, blinking heavily. "Sedative… The Admiral…" Nyota wanted desperately to tell them what was happening, what that man said he was going to do, but she was feeling more and more detached from herself by the second.

"Nyota, listen to me." McCoy spoke to her again, his voice was stern but clear as he watched her wobbling frame on the Entrada's view screen. "Whatever they have given you, you have to stop fighting it. It's not good for you or your daughter. Go and lie down before you collapse. That's an order."

"No..! No… listen…" She tried to protest, struggling to keep herself upright.

"Do as he orders, my love." Khan told her softly. "Right now I am scared for your health; Bone's is right; this is not good for you. We know your location, and we are coming to you now. I will see you very soon."

Nyota smiled as she forced herself to her feet, and closed off her computer. The bed on the other side of the room was suddenly miles away.

xxxx

"Speed is paramount." Khan addressed the bridge crew who were now on route to Earth, the Entrada was running at her maximum warp, and a coordinated location in the Earth's exosphere, directly above the Starfleet apartment Nyota was in was the ships current destination.

"Once we are in position above Earth, a security fleet will no doubt be upon us in seconds. The transporter room must be ready with the apartments coordinates to beam me down, and then then Entrada must disappear." He addressed the helmsmen, "Have a course laid in for Orcus and head back there once I'm gone. I doubt anyone will follow you, but you'll be safer away from Earth. I will contact you to let you know when we're coming back to the Entrada."

"I'm going with you." Kirk said. Khan nodded and Jim clapped him on the shoulder.

"I too wish to accompany you," Spock said, "If you will let me. I assure you, I am on your side."

Khan eyed him a moment. "Alright. For Nyota's sake."

"Arriving at Earth in two minutes, Captain." A lieutenant told him.

"Right, lets go. McCoy; come with us."

Khan spoke with Bones as they strode to the transporter room. "I need you to be ready with the Medbay for when we return, Nyota and our child will need checking over."

"Of course." McCoy replied as the men took their places on the pad.

"_Arriving at Earth in three, two, one__… __prepare for transport.__" _A lieutenant spoke from the bridge.

"Good luck." Bones offered as energy encircled them and they disappeared from the ship.

They energised right in the middle of the apartment. It was dark yet the light from the moon and surrounding buildings provided just enough light to see in. Nyota had made it to her bed and was curled up on top of the covers, one arm wrapped around her stomach to protect their daughter.

Khan crossed the room to her immediately. He sat down on the edge of the mattress and gently stroked her cheek to rouse her.

"Darling." He whispered. Her eyes flickered open and relief spread through her still drugged expression.

"Khan…" She struggled to sit up, but his arms quickly found her and pulled her into an embrace.

"My love, are you alright? I am so sorry this happened." He breathed, holding her tightly. Nyota moved slightly, gazing at him with hooded eyes.

"It's worse." She wanted to tell him, "The Admiral… horrible plan…"

"I estimate that we have less than five minutes before the Admiral knows we are here." Spock interjected, "The transporter signal will have been detected."

Nyota nodded, "You have to stop him…" She whispered, face crumpling, "It's bad…"

Khan stroked her hair, gazing at her limp frame and woozily worried expression. The Admiral would pay for drugging her, let alone everything else he has done.

"No worrying." He told her, kissing away the lines on her forehead. "I will find out everything. You are safe now, I promise. We'll be going home as soon as I have dealt with the Admiral."

Nyota touched his cheek and managed a smile. Khan carefully released her from his embrace and let her fall back to sleep. The rooms computer alerted them and the Admiral appeared on screen. Khan approached the comm.

"How the hell did you get down here..?" His tone was threatening.

"Nyota contacted me from this very computer. It was unwise of you to leave her in an obvious place with access to a computer that has my encryptions on; of course she was going to contact me."

"She was out cold; there's more drugs in her than an eight month pregnant woman should have."

Khan smirked. "You are going to pay for that… Yet you underestimated her strength." He said, "Tell me where you are."

"Why?"

"I think we need to have a discussion, don't you agree?"

The Admiral said nothing. He glared at Khan as he sat back in his chair, he was obviously in an office somewhere, but on the Intelligence Base or at Starfleet HQ? Khan sighed heavily.

"You can either tell me where you are right now, or I will hack the systems and find you." Khan told him, "There is no point in trying to outsmart me, it will not work. I am coming after you, be that now, or after I have wreaked havoc through Starfleet trying to find you. It's your choice; the end result will be the same."

The Admiral eyed him for a long moment. "Intelligence Base one, fourth floor, office six." The transmission terminated. Khan turned to Spock and Kirk.

"Take Spock with you." Kirk said, "He's a more logical arguer and he'll be tougher when shit starts to fly. I'll stay here and look after Nyota."

"Thank you." Khan acknowledged, crossing the room to Nyota again. He crouched down beside the bed, she was fast asleep now.

"I love you." He whispered to her. "So very much." He kissed her and brushed her hair off her face, before getting to his feet and striding to the door. Spock followed after him.

"Kick his ass." Kirk told them. Khan flashed him a wicked grin as the door closed behind them.

xxxx

Khan and Spock entered the Admiral's office calmly. Although Khan was reeling, he sat and listened as the Admiral informed them of the conversation that he had with Nyota on the way back to Earth.

"I gave her the choice to a be able to look after her child," The Admiral was explaining, "So long as you both agreed to let Starfleet access her for study, but Nyota declined. So by default, she chose the other option."

"Which is..?" Khan growled, drumming his fingers against the arms of the chair impatiently.

"She will give birth to the child on Earth, you will both be declared unfit to be parents, and the girl will be taken from you and raised and studied by Starfleet." He told him without feeling. "From the data I have received already, I can see she is going to be quite a unique little specimen."

Khan no longer tried to control his rage. He flew out of his chair and grabbed the Admiral, pulled him over the desk and punched him repeatedly, before grabbing his throat and shoving him to the wall.

"You should have let me sleep! You should have let us _both sleep!_" Khan roared. He forced himself to take a breath. "There is no way in hell that you are getting my child. I will kill you, and every person you have ever spoken too, looked at, or so much as passed on the street, before I ever let you within one hundred light years of my daughter."

The Admiral spluttered under Khan's grasp, his gaze desperately drifting across to Spock, who sat doing nothing to intervene.

"I am not going to assist you, Sir." Spock said. "Your actions against Nyota and her child are morally wrong. Herself and Khan have done nothing to prove that they are unfit to raise a child, and nothing in the past months that can even be construed as criminal behaviour. It is you who is trying to keep them as the enemy." Spock stated. "The fact that you are being subjected to this violence now is of your own doing; for I should think that if you threatened to take any other man's child, he would react in the same way. I am certain that I would."

The Admiral looked back to Khan in fear, yet he managed a smirk. "Go on; kill me." He taunted him. Khan twitched; he could so easily break this man's neck and he so wanted to, but instead, he released him, watching his body slump to the floor.

"No. Killing you would be a kindness." Khan hissed, and kicked him in the ribs. "No matter how much I might want to for the hurt you have cause Nyota, for ending the lives of my crew… It would land me in more trouble than it's worth, and I have a child on the way; so instead I plan to ruin you."

The Admiral was still catching his breath as he looked up at Khan from the floor.

"I have witnesses, ships recordings, even inside knowledge from General Wells." Khan told him. "The entire Federation will see what you have done, and will know about your plans. The public will drag you out for me, and I will no longer be seen as the enemy."

The Admiral's eyes widened as the situation dawned on him. Khan turned his back on him and crossed the room to Spock. The man shakily got to his feet, approaching them.

"You're not actually going to do this. You're not going to help him, are you Spock?" He asked the Vulcan.

"Yes. I am." Spock replied. The Admiral looked at him with disgust, and Spock threw a punch at him. "That was for everything you have subject Nyota to."

Khan smirked, briefly watching the man struggle on the floor with his bloody nose. "Goodbye Admiral." He said, and they departed his office for good.

xxxx

Khan and Spock had been away for some time, and Nyota had woken up. She was miserable and worried, so Kirk took it upon himself to cheer her up while they waited for the others to return.

Nyota sat in bed with a bowl of food Kirk had made for her, and was laughing at him as he stood in the middle of the room wiggling around with his hands on his forehead like antenna.

"That is not what an Andorian Water Slug looks like!" She cackled, "They don't wiggle! It's more of a weave."

"Weave!? There's no weaving! There is a distinct wiggle, and their antenna flop about like this."

Kirk was wiggling his torso and flapping his hands about on his head, more laughter erupted from Nyota. The whole thing was made even funnier when Khan and Spock returned, as Kirk was so into his impression, he did not notice them.

"What _are _you doing, Kirk?" Khan asked him, standing at the door with Spock, both looking utterly bemused. Nyota howled as Kirk turned to them.

"Andorian Water Slug!" He exclaimed, continuing his impression. They watched him a moment.

"Their movement is more of a weave, Jim." Spock told him.

"See! I told you!" Nyota was almost crying with laughter. Kirk stopped and huffed dramatically. Khan rolled his eyes and smiled, crossing to sit with Nyota on the bed. Wiggle, weave; it did not matter. Nyota was smiling again, and the sound of her laughter always warmed Khan's heart.

"How did it go?" She asked, putting her empty food bowl aside, concern edging into her voice. She found Khan's hands.

"Well you're both back so..?"

"I think…" Khan began cautiously, "I think for the first time since our being together; we are safe."

"Safe?"

"The Admiral knows what he is doing is wrong, and we have every means to destroy him and his career. He knows he cannot do anything, because we have too much support, and evidence against him."

"As I told him; his actions against you are morally wrong. When he is exposed, the people of Starfleet will deal with him." Spock added.

Nyota couldn't believe her ears, they had beaten the Admiral at his own game. She beamed and hugged Khan.

"We're safe? Our daughter is safe?"

Khan smiled, "Yes."

Nyota kissed him and laughed again. She was more relieved than she had ever been about anything in her entire life.

"Did you kick his ass though?" She asked, looking between him and Spock.

"Of course we did." Khan smiled. "Now, we may be safe," He began, "But I personally do not want to hang around and test our luck."

"I'll contact the Entrada." Kirk said, walking over to the comm.

"Tell them to stay at Orcus, give us their exact coordinates and have their transporter room ready." Khan told him. They all looked at him confused. "Waiting for the Entrada to get back to Earth's exosphere will take too long, and the Admiral may still have security waiting to attack the ship."He got to his feet and began looking around the room. "When I travelled to London to get Nyota from the Vaults, I used a transporter beacon I stole from the Intelligence Base. It uses Mr. Scott's transwarp beaming equation to move personnel around undetected. Much better than the device I used when escaping to Kronos all those years ago."

He looked in a draw and found the device. "We can plan our next steps from the safety of the ship."

"Their coordinates are, 55. 72. 19. 38." Kirk announced.

Khan programmed the device and gestured for them to gather round. He scanned each of them, let the transporter log their mass, and beam them all back to the Entrada.


	27. Chapter 27

Nyota smiled as the familiar look of the Entrada's transporter room gradually came into view. It was good to be home.

Doctor McCoy and a nurse were already standing by in the room along with Mr. Scott.

"Good to see you're all back in one piece!" Scotty smiled as they each stepped off the pad. Bones approached Uhura, immediately scanning her with a tricorder.

"I'm gonna need you to come to MedBay for a check up, okay?" He told her, focus set on reading the device in his hand. Khan's hand found Nyota's back.

"Sure." Nyota agreed, and followed him with Khan to Sickbay.

Both mother and baby were in perfect health, leaving McCoy mildly surprised and a little impressed.

"Your levels check out well for a woman who has literally just been dragged to Earth and back." Bones commented. "I was worried about those sedatives, but there are no traces of it left in your blood stream so they must have used a fairly low dosage." He put his medical equipment away. "You are free to go, but I recommend you quit working. Couple more weeks now and you'll be good to go." He smiled, gesturing at her tummy.

Nyota rubbed her bump as Khan helped her off the bed.

"I can't wait." She smiled. "I'm not sure I can stand being this giant for much longer."

"You still look beautiful to me." Khan told her. She kissed him lovingly. McCoy interrupted them.

"The people in here are sick enough already." He teased, "Don't you two have and Admiral to expose or something?" Nyota giggled.

"Yes." Khan agreed, "And we are going to need your help too, Doctor."

xxxx

"I don't know what you've done Khan, but the Admiral is manic." General Wells was on screen on the bridge, addressing Khan, Nyota, and the others. "He's altering system files, changing data logs; several members of your crew have been talked about."

"We are exposing the Admiral for everything he has done, and everything he has tried to do to Nyota and our child." Khan explained. "We have nearly all the evidence we need, but we are going to need your help. You are the final piece."

"Me?" Wells asked, "What can I do in this?"

"Be on our side. You have access to things that even I can't get to; the Admiral's personal PADD for example."

The General looked about the expectant faces of the Entrada crew, making his decision.

"Alright." He agreed. "It's about time someone exposed this corrupt bastard. What do you need me to do?"

"I need you to steal the Admiral's PADD and beam the device to the Entrada. If I have it in my possession I will be able to gain access to all of his data files and reports; the truth about everything he has done, and everything he has planned."

"There are a few things I am going to have to secure in order to do this; can you give me twenty-four hours?"

"That should be fine." Khan said, "I do not know if the Admiral is going to try and get to us, but my guess would be he is too busy trying to sweep his corruptions under the rug to come and bother us again. Although nothing would surprise me."

"I will do my best to keep a closer eye on him. I am sorry I couldn't warn you last time."

"Thank you, General. Once I have the device I suggest you lay low whilst I unpick it. I will contact you again once we are ready to expose him, and you can use your access to put the information out to Starfleet."

"I hope this will be enough." Wells exhaled.

"It will be." Khan assured him.

Khan had ordered the bridge crew to stop work on the science from Orcus, and to help them accumulate the data they needed to expose the Admiral. Personnel were only too happy to oblige. Nyota was touched by the kindness the crew showed her now she was safely back on ship. She could not walk so much as a corridor without someone smiling or hugging her, telling her they were pleased she was back and safe. It made their mission to expose the Admiral feel so much stronger, knowing that all these people were behind her, looking out for herself, her child and Khan.

Nyota lay on the bed in the quarters she shared with Khan. She smiled, closing her eyes and breathing deeply. The fabrics smelled of a sweet mixture of the two of them, reminding her of all the love they have shared. It was comfortable and warm; she knew she was really home. The day was over on the ship and all they could do now was wait for the General to get hold of the Admiral's PADD and transfer it over to the Entrada.

Khan had missed Nyota more than he could express. The room felt whole again with her presence, she was barely gone a day but the time had seemed like an eternity to him. Khan soaked up her company, revelling in having Nyota beside him again as they lay in bed together. His languid focus was set on her; his fingers caressed every inch of her skin and lips trailed kisses from her lips, down her neck, over her breasts and to her stomach. He lovingly ran his hands over her tummy, planting kisses on her smooth skin. Nyota watched him, a gentle smile in her expression, feeling so safe and adored.

"I love you." Khan rumbled quietly, meeting her gaze.

"I love you too."

"I was so scared of what he would do to you, to our daughter."

"So was I; but he can't get us now." Nyota soothed.

Khan moved to embrace her, wrapping his arms around her body and burying his face in her neck, closing his eyes.

"Never again."

The Admiral's PADD had arrived on ship the next morning and Khan was eager to extract its contents. The things he found disgusted him, and he shared the data with the crew of the Entrada.

"God… This guy just plans whatever he wants, doesn't he?" Kirk commented as he read through a piece of data with a plan to end a department of Starfleet that would see thousands of personnel out of jobs, with no plans as to help them find other work, or patch up the space it would leave in the Federation.

"Anything we can get to show his true nature will help us." Uhura said, "Even if its not directly about us; these issues need to be brought to light."

"Captain," Spock addressed Khan. "Our data files are complete. They are ready to be sent over to the General with the Admiral's files."

Expectant faces watched Khan a moment as he thought. He nodded to Spock.

"Accumulate the final pieces of data and send it." He ordered. "Keats; contact the General and let him know it's show time."

Nyota stood with Khan and squeezed his hand, she exhaled. Whatever happened next, at least they were together.

xxxx

Over the next few weeks, everyone was glued to Earth's news. The General fed them direct updates as and when he could, but he was busy being a voice of Starfleet. His superiors and colleagues listened to him this time; unlike with the last Admiral, where his disapproval at his actions to use Khan had landed him demoted to a corner of England, having data and knowledge on his side made him someone worth paying attention to. Slowly, the Admiral was being exposed.

Around the news, progress had resumed with analysing Orcus, but the planet had very little to offer them except hostility. The planet was going through its winter; the foliage had died, the creatures had grown more dangerous due to the harsh climate and lack of naturally sourced food. Personnel were reluctant to spend more than fifteen minutes on the darkened surface. Uhura was watching some footage on science deck from the away team that had gone down that morning, and she couldn't say she blamed them for their short stay. It looked ghastly now; the paradise they had first arrived at was now a wasteland of feral creatures, desperately trying to survive a brutal season.

Nyota's pregnancy was close to term, and Bones had told her it could be any day now. Their baby was very strong and healthy, Nyota thought maybe too strong as it did not take much to wear her out these days. Sleeping was uncomfortable for long periods and she had semi-permanent pregnancy brain; forgetting things easily and drifting out of concentration. Yet her biggest problem was hysteria. Things seemed funnier or sadder than they really were; the slightest emotional story would set her pouring with tears, or a bad pun would suddenly be hilarious, setting her into fits of giggles. The crew enjoyed trying to make her laugh, just because they knew she wouldn't be able to stop for hours. Khan would find her crying in their quarters, approaching her cautiously to see whether she needed a cuddle, or if she had something funny to try and tell him through her laughter. More often than not, it was the latter.

Nyota walked a corridor feeling uncomfortable, she had put it down to a bad nights sleep when she got up this morning, but as she headed to the turbo-lift a surge of pain spiked through her, she stopped, grabbing the wall beside her. The lift door opened ahead of her and Kirk stepped out, spotting her immediately, he dropped his PADD on the floor as he got to her.

"Uhura? You okay?"

"No, I think…" She grimaced against the pain, taking a breath. "Take me to Medbay."

"Bones!" Kirk yelled through the usual commotion of Sickbay, one arm around Uhura, his other hand being squeezed. McCoy and some nurses ran over to take Nyota from him.

"I think she's in labour. I'll get onto Khan." Kirk said, rushing over to a computer. "Computer, tell the Captain to get his ass down to MedBay now!"

Khan ran into Sickbay where Nyota was already in agony.

She had thought about what this pain would be like, and done a bit of reading about contractions occurring in waves and gradually becoming more intense and lasting longer; but this was ridiculous. Already the pain tore through every limb, curling her feet into the bed to being unable to lift her heavy head from the pillow. She gripped Khan's hand like a vice, and he stroked her hair with his free hand, looking utterly helpless and distressed at her pain. McCoy had assured her he had given her pain relief, but it did not seem to be working.

Nyota cursed, her fingers breaking around Khan's. She felt as if she had been enduring this for centuries, each time a stronger wave of pain would hit her, taking her breath away and draining her body of strength. She grew anxious at her weakness. Khan kissed her forehead.

"This is too much!" He barked desperately at Bones, who was viewing her medical read out screen above the bed, brow set as he concentrated on his work.

"The baby is very strong, but she is not strong enough to cope with this. I think we should take her in for a caesarian." He said, quickly running a scanner over her.

Nyota looked to the doctor, worry seeping through her pain and her weakness as he ordered nurses to prepare for the surgery.

"Don't panic." McCoy reassured her, "We're gonna help you bring your daughter into the world." He told her. Pain coursed through her again as he prepared the drugs. "This will numb you," Bones said, injecting her. "You'll be awake, but it'll be painless."

"Khan?" She asked, reaching her hands out to him, needing him with her. She didn't want him to leave, she couldn't do this without him.

"Yeah, he can come too."

xxxx

A sheet divided herself from her lower body, and the drugs had taken away any sense of herself she had left. There was no pain, there was no anything. In fact, it was almost difficult to keep her eyes open. She could hear the hums of machinery and the words of the nurses and Bones, but was strangely unaware of the activity, only every other moment when her heavy gaze would drift from Khan would she frantically look up to find him again. He had one hand supporting her head, fingers laced in her hair and the other firmly grasping one of her hands, as he gently murmured encouragement to her, she didn't pick out every word, but his voice calmed her.

Nyota's eyes closed heavily, the buzz of the room running through her mind when suddenly, abruptly, a sharp wail rose above all the other sounds of the room.

"I've got your girl!" McCoy announced. Nyota struggled to see anything past the sterile sheet draped before her, but Khan's expression told her everything.

Bones handed the little girl over to nurse who cleaned her up, wrapped her in sterile blankets and weighed her. Seven pounds exactly. Skin the colour of extra creamy coffee with perfect little limbs and formed features; tiny lips with a hint of her fathers cupids bow, and strands of wispy dark hair.

Tears rolled down Nyota's temples as the nurse approached them with the child in her arms. Khan was transfixed as he carefully took the infant from her, bringing her down to show Nyota.

"Hello, my angel." She whispered. Khan smiled, cradling their daughter in his arms, eyes taking in every detail of her.

"She is perfection." He said, blinking back tears. Bones interrupted them.

"Khan, I'm gonna need you to take her out of here while I finish with Nyota." He told him. Khan's gaze met Uhura's, he was reluctant to leave her. "I'll be two minutes, really."

"It's okay." Nyota whispered, managing a weak smiled.

"Give her some of my blood." Khan told Bones. "You still have some stored, don't you? It will speed up her healing."

Bones nodded and ordered a nurse to retrieve some of the stored blood vials from Khan's medical bank.

"I will see you in a minute." Khan said, kissing Nyota and carefully getting to his feet with the baby, following a nurse back out to the rest of MedBay.

Kirk was still in sickbay, awaiting any news of what was happening to Nyota. He beamed from ear to ear as Khan walked out from the surgical room, holding a white blanket in his arms. Khan met his gaze and smiled as Jim approached him.

"Congratulations!" He said, "Is Nyota okay? She's still in there?"

"She is going to be fine," Khan nodded. "McCoy is giving her some of my blood to help her heal."

He gazed down at his daughter. Kirk smiled at them both, at Khan holding a child and looking happier than he had ever seen him.

"She is beautiful!" Jim smiled at the baby, who wriggled slightly in her blanket.

"Yes, she is."

Nyota was soon out of surgery, sat up in her bed in a private room of Sickbay and holding their daughter in her arms for the first time. It was overwhelming; it felt as if all the pain and the c-section had happened in another world, because there was suddenly no world as blissful as this one.

Khan sat on the edge of the bed beside Nyota, his arm placed carefully around her as she cradled their daughter, both of them watching her, entranced.

"She is everything." Khan smiled.

"I know." Nyota sighed happily. "What are we gonna name our little piece of heaven?"

Bones had entered the room without either of them noticing. "Sorry to be the party-pooper," He began, "But I need to give our newest little crew member a full check-up, and you, our newest momma, need to get some rest."

Nyota hummed reluctantly. "You'll bring her back in here though?"

"Of course I will. A nurse is getting a crib, and you can have her right beside you."

She carefully passed the baby up to McCoy and he took her for her medical examination. Khan held Nyota's face in his hands and kissed her deeply.

"You are the most incredible woman I have ever known." He told her, resting his forehead against hers. She smiled, her hands finding his chest.

"You make me better." She said, "Thank you for staying with me."

Khan kissed her again, "I need to let you rest, and I believe I have an announcement to make to the crew."

"Be back soon." She smiled.

"Of course, my love. Rest."

* * *

"_Crew of the Entrada; I invite you all to join me in wishing a huge congratulations to Captain Khan Noonien-Singh, and Lieutenant Nyota Uhura on the birth of their baby girl!__" _


	28. Chapter 28

**Hello lovelies! Here it is; the final chapter! I am writing an EPILOGUE to round it all off so it's not quite the end just yet, there is some cuteness yet to come! As ever, I hope you have enjoyed my story and liked my little Khan/Uhura trilogy! I am so overwhelmed by the love you have shown me, and have loved writing for you all. I do have an idea for a new K/U fic! I will be writing it as a one shot, rather than in chapters as I don't have the time to maintain regular updates, but desperately want to keep writing! You haven't read the last of my works yet... :) **

* * *

Nyota had been allowed to sleep in her own bed in the quarters she shared with Khan following the birth of their daughter. Her c-section had no complications, and her system had responded kindly to the small transfusion of Khan's blood. McCoy had declared her fit enough to leave, but had ordered her back first thing in the morning for a check over.

Nyota strode happily into MedBay, being congratulated by the doctors and nurses as she made her way over to Bones.

"How was your first night?" He asked, a small expectant smirk twitching at the corner of his lips.

"Pleasantly uneventful." Nyota told him. McCoy tutted.

"It's not parenthood unless they're keeping you up all night!" He joked.

"Well she did wake up once and have a bit of a wail; but she had a feed and then went straight back to sleep until the morning!"

McCoy was scanning her and checking over her stomach. "Well I hope she starts kicking up more fuss; I'd like to see her giving you two the run around." He smiled.

"She'll have plenty of years to get to that." Nyota mused, the thought blossoming in her mind.

She had been so wrapped up in the present moment, holding their daughter for the first time, becoming parents, that she hadn't had a chance to envision the future. How their little girl was going to grow up; they'd have to teach her to walk and to talk, all the ways of the world as they watch her grow into a unique little person.

"Well, you're vitals and levels are fine, and your surgical wounds are healing nicely thanks to Khan's blood. I'd say your good to go and focus on being a momma." He said, helping her back to her feet. "You come straight to me if you have any problems, you or the baby."

"Thanks Bones." She hugged him. He was surprised by her gesture, but returned it. "For everything."

"My pleasure, Uhura."

Getting back to her quarters, Nyota fell in love with the sight she was greeted with.

Khan was sat cross-legged on the bed, pillows propped up behind him, wearing a soft grey t-shirt and black sweatpants, with their daughter cradled in his left arm. His right index finger was being firmly gripped by a tiny hand as he spoke softly to the little girl, who was gurgling occasionally, as if in reply to his conversation.

"I thought of a name." Nyota whispered, stood just inside the doorway, transfixed by the serenity before her. Khan met her gaze, inquisitive.

"Nirvanah." She said softly. "The Buddhists described it as the ultimate goal; freedom, the cessation of suffering."

"Often know as heaven on earth…" Khan murmured, looking at the child again.

"She is our piece of heaven, an end to all we have suffered through." Nyota sat on the bed, her hand reaching to touch Khan's and the little fingers that still gripped his.

"I like it." Khan smiled. "Nirvanah."

xxxx

Khan had forced himself to stop cuddling Nirvanah and attend to his duties. Nyota loved to see how his love and protective nature was extending to their daughter. Khan kissed Nyota, and spared a moment to plant a kiss on their daughter's delicate forehead before he left.

Nyota sat on the bed, her knees drawn up slightly to her chest so she could lay the baby on her thighs to face her. Nirvanah watched her with large, glossy blue eyes, both her little hands grasping Nyota's.

It felt like a dream. She was a mom. This little baby resting on her legs; her tiny hands and feet, perfect tiny features and trusting gaze was all hers. Hers and Khan's. The very essence of them.

"I hope you know how adored you are." She whispered to Nirvanah. "How much me and your daddy love you, how we have fought for you." Nyota beamed at her and she gurgled.

Khan hadn't been gone two minutes before there was an alert at her door. She asked the computer to open it and in stepped Scotty and Kirk, both smiling timidly.

"You don't mind if we ambush you for a couple 'a minutes, do you?" Scotty asked.

"Of course not! Come and say hello." Nyota smiled.

"She's a right wee one!" The engineer smiled as they approached the bed, Nyota gestured for them to sit with her.

Kirk smiled and tickled the baby's foot. "Still can't believe I'm an uncle already. I feel too young." He teased her, Nyota laughed.

"Would you like to hold her?" She asked, his eyes widened as he smiled.

"Yeah, I would!"

Carefully, Uhura passed Nirvanah over to Kirk's arms. The child wriggled in response to the movement and being passed to a stranger. She did not cry, simply watched him, mesmerised.

"I'm your uncle Jim." He told her, "I'm gonna teach you how to do all the bad stuff so you can drive your mom and dad nuts."

Nyota giggled and momentarily moved her hands to cover the baby's tiny ears. "No don't taint her! She's too young!"

"Have you chosen a name for her yet?" Scotty asked. Nyota nodded, straightening the blanket.

"Nirvanah."

"How heavenly." Kirk smiled, recognising the meaning.

"That's a lovely name, lass." Scotty agreed, holding his hands out to Kirk. "C'mon then, don't hog her! I wanna cuddle too before our duties start!"

Kirk reluctantly let Scotty hold Nirvanah.

"Ah, you gotta breathe in that baby smell." He smiled, holding the baby up so he was face to face with her.

"What?" Nyota laughed.

"The smell o' youth!" He told them. "Only babies have that smell."

Her friends stayed as long as they could before they had to report to their stations for work. Nyota thought of her work as she placed a now sleepy Nirvanah on the big pillows next to her. She grabbed her PADD off the desk and went over the reports she had missed from the last few days. Her work from Orcus felt like a completely different life compared to everything that was happening now; the baby and the current demise of the Admiral's Starfleet Career on Earth.

The computer on the wall before her signalled an alert message. She got up off the bed to read it. It was from Keats on the bridge.

_Private transmission coming through from General Wells. Khan is on his way. Yours to initiate when ready. _

Nyota pushed a button on the console and opened the transmission on the screen.

"Hello Lieutenant." The General smiled.

"Hello sir." She replied, her attention turning to the door as Khan strode into the room.

"General." He greeted him, joining Nyota at the screen.

"I believe I'm looking at Starfleet's newest parents, am I not?"

"You are." Nyota smiled as Khan walked over to the bed and gently lifted a sleeping Nirvanah off the pillows, bringing her to the screen.

"Her name is Nirvanah." Khan told him.

"She is just lovely." He smiled.

"We know." Nyota said, kissing the baby's head. "We could never have let that Admiral anywhere near her." She whispered, the idea of that reality still haunted her.

"And you won't ever have too." The General commented. "All his crimes have been brought to the attention of the Fleet and a deciding tribunal took place last night; he has been stripped of his rank and had his position in Starfleet is officially terminated."

Nyota gasped with delighted incredulity. "You're serious?!"

"Absolutely."

Nyota squealed and kissed Khan, carefully avoiding disrupting the baby. She calmed herself a little.

"So who is the new Admiral for the region?" She asked.

"You're looking at him."

"Congratulations, Admiral!" Khan smiled, "It's about time they put you somewhere more useful."

"How is the operation coming along?" He asked Khan, changing the subject. "You've been at Orcus for nearly a year now."

"I believe our mission is coming to an end." Khan told him. "Whilst the planet is scientifically fascinating, I think that it will be of little use to us. It's rather too small to inhabit, it's winter season is deathly harsh, and the entire planet is alive with intelligence."

"I've seen the reports. I didn't quite believe them at first if I'm honest."

"Neither did we." Uhura pitched in. "It's been extraordinary to see and study how a planet can be so interconnected with its wildlife."

"The interconnectivity gives the whole planet the upper hand from a hostile standpoint; and there are many intelligent hostile creatures. They, along with some of the planets biological toxins, are what were responsible for the deaths of the two-hundred Starfleet personnel. Trying to establish any sort of on-the-surface utility outpost here would be a death trap. The creatures would learn its workings in a matter of days and render it useless."

Admiral Wells listened, studying information from a PADD he held on the desk in front of him as he contemplated what he was reading.

"Starfleet has received all the data you have managed to gather and can decide where and what they want to continue to study in depth. You've answered Starfleets initial question, so I think it's time to call it in." He announced. "No more gathering new data, tie up your loose ends and I expect all reports to be finished and transmitted by the end of the week. I will schedule your return time with the Starship Dock, and see you back on Earth on Saturday."

Nyota and Khan shared a smile. A chapter had ended, and a new one would be beginning.

"Well done, Khan." Wells added, "To you and your entire crew. We'll meet for a mission de-brief when you return."

"Very well. Thank you Sir."

The transmission terminated and Nyota sighed.

"I can't believe it." She smiled, gazing softly into the distance, "That asshole ex-Admiral is gone! We're going back to Earth! No one is trying to sabotage us!" A giggle poured out of her and tears welled in her eyes.

"I love you." Khan said. Nyota met his gaze, gently touching the baby in his arms, she smiled.

"I love you too. Both of you."

xxxx

"Forgive me." A voice cleared from the other side of the room, "I hope I am not intruding."

Nyota lifted the baby up from the table in their room where she had just finished changing her, and turned to see Spock in the doorway.

"Spock, I invited you. You're not intruding, just punctual as always." She offered him a smile as the baby nestled into her neck and she crossed the room to him.

Spock observed her, eyes moving between her and Nirvanah. In theory, her asking Spock to come and meet the baby was a kind gesture, after all he did in the end to help her, yet in reality, there was still a little awkwardness between them. Spock's eyes were deep wells of thought, he looked briefly emotional as he stood before her. She knew he was thinking about the child, and the possibility that in another life that could have been his child she was holding, because she had once thought of that possibility too.

"You appear very natural." Spock told her quietly.

"Well it's only day one," Nyota sighed, "And she's not crying."

"I know a crying child is not enough to disrupt your composure, Nyota." He said, "I am sure you handle her needs perfectly."

Nyota smiled, "Would you like to hold her?" Her words escaped her before she had a chance to contemplate them. Spock simply stood blinking. "I, um…" She fumbled, suddenly thinking perhaps it wasn't the best idea to offer…

"I would like to." He replied to her surprise.

Carefully she passed Nirvanah over to him in her bundle of blankets. The infant was half asleep, little eyelashes momentarily flickering as she watched the face of this new person, before deciding she was not in any danger and could return to dozing off.

"The name you have chosen is highly original." He said, his tone complimenting and gaze fixed on the baby. "And you will make a fine mother, Nyota."

She smiled, but it faded quickly. Nyota could see the reserve in his nature as he watched the child. "I'm not her only parent, though." She said quietly, trying to draw out what he was really thinking.

"No… Khan's parenting abilities are yet to be seen…" He said, contemplatively. Nyota felt a little saddened by his scepticism, after everything. "Although." He met her gaze, "I think so long as you are with him, he will be a most protective and intelligent father."

Nirvanah began to squirm, and Nyota quickly stepped out of her haze to take her from Spock again.

Their arms brushed as he handed the child back to her. She took a breath, "Having your friendship again would mean a lot to me…" She blinked back tears that threatened to appear. "I know after everything… but Khan and I are moving forward, with Nirvanah, with our lives…"

"I will always consider you my friend, Nyota, and I will always show caring for Nirvanah." Spock told her. "I cannot say what my standings with Khan will become, but I have no reason to conflict with him any longer." Nyota saw the peace he had made with himself, hard earned, and coming from a place that was difficult for Vulcans to express.

"Thank you, Spock."

xxxx

Khan made the end of mission announcement and the rest of the week was dedicated to finalising work and data that had been done over the course of the past year. An odd, excited anticipation dwelled throughout the ship and her crew members, the anticipation that accompanied returning home to earth after a time in space. Personnel happily remembered the little things they loved about their homes and their loved ones, gearing themselves up to be reunited with planet Earth once again.

Nyota had called upon Lieutenant Keats, who was more than thrilled to help out, to baby sit Nirvanah for a little while. There was something she had to do, something she finally _could _do, after so many years…

She sat in an empty analysis suite in the Transmissions room at a computer, and exhaled, trying to dispel some of her nerves. On screen was the personal transmission address of her parents house back on Earth. It had been almost five years since she sent them her goodbye at the end of 2259, before leaving for the Vengeance with Khan, before the start of the war. The amount of time that had passed between them knocked the breath out of her lungs. Her family would be changed people, for she was certainly a changed woman. Nyota did not know if contacting them again now would open the doors to making up for lost time, whether they would welcome their daughter back into their life with Khan, a man they only knew as a criminal, and with Nirvanah, a granddaughter they would not expect. The most she could do was try.

Time had escaped her as she found her stride in composing a message to her parents; there was so much that suddenly poured out of her, as if writing an honest memoir of everything that had happened over the past five years, everything she had thought, felt, seen and done. She allowed herself to acknowledge just how much she missed them, for too long had she pushed thoughts and memories of her family aside, to save herself of homesickness, but now it washed over her like a tsunami of nostalgia and love.

She had been away nearly two hours when she finally got back to her quarters. She wiped her eyes as she walked through the door, trying to settle the onslaught of emotions she was feeling so she could apologise to Keats for keeping her from her duties for so long, but was relieved to find Khan with the baby instead.

Khan was stood, gently swaying from side to side as he held Nirvanah in his arms, feeding her a bottle of formula milk and quietly humming something to her. Nyota felt herself welling up again, but smiled instead as he looked to her. He noticed her emotion filled expression.

"What's wrong, my love?" He asked as she stepped towards him, "Keats told me you had gone to transmissions? Is everything alright?"

Nyota sat on the bed and took a breath, "Yeah, everything is good." She told him, "I contacted my parents again." Khan sat next to her with the baby, "Now that we're finally safe… I hadn't realised how long it had been."

"What did you tell them?" He asked softly.

"Everything." She replied, "The truth about us and what happened before our cryostasis sentencing, they would have only heard lies from the media news. I told them the truth about you, and finally, about our Nirvanah." She said, caressing the baby's head. "I expressed my hopes to at least hear from them again, but I don't know if I will."

"I am sure you will." He comforted her, putting down the bottle of milk Nirvanah was now rejecting and wrapping his free arm around Nyota's shoulder. "You're their daughter; we would never turn away our daughter, even if she got herself in trouble with a man and disappeared for nearly five years."

"See, that sounds awful… I'd be so mad at her."

Khan chuckled and looked down at Nirvanah.

"No you wouldn't… you would not be able to sustain anger at her for more than five seconds."

Nyota smiled. "You're right." She gazed at the baby and sighed. "Then I hope my parents are as forgiving, and I hope they can love you two as much I as do."

xxxx

The sun shone brightly on Earth and San Francisco's Intelligence Base landing ground. Goodbyes with the crew and personnel were harder than expected, and Nirvanah received more love than she would ever know what to do with. Nyota made promises to everyone that she would keep them up to date with Nirvanah's growth, and that they were open to visitors anytime, once they had figured out where they would be living and raising their daughter.

"We can't stay here…" Nyota worried mildly as she stood in the centre of their tiny Starfleet studio apartment, cuddling Nirvanah.

"No worrying." Khan said, turning to her and kissing away the lines on her forehead. "I have a place in mind that would be more than adequate… so long as you don't mind leaving San Francisco with me?"

Nyota thought. "For our family, with you…" She smiled, leaning up to place a kiss on his lips. "I'll go anywhere."

* * *

**Final Note: I am aware that the usual spelling of the baby's name is 'Nirvana' without the 'H', but I wanted to make it different/unique. I shall be posting an Epilogue, so although it is the end... it's not quite. Feel free to follow me on my Tumblr page (link on my profile), where I shall endeavour to post things. Much love to you my friend ~ Vanilla Jasmine :)**


	29. Epilogue

**June. 2266 - South London. **

There was nowhere on Earth quite like England when the sun shone. Nyota had confessed to not knowing the country on much of a personal level at all. She had visited a few times; for work with Starfleet, and once on a small holiday with her Academy friends, and both times it had rained. A lot. Her memories of the place were gloomy and dull, yet busy and teeming with life and activity. To behold the country when it was bathed in sunshine was a treat and a sight to enjoy.

Now, England was her home with Khan and Nirvanah, and had been happily for over a year. Khan had wanted to return to London, to build his new life with Nyota on the ashes of his old one; his life that had consisted of manipulation and prejudice hatred, where so much had been suffered through and lost. He wanted to atone with his mother country, to create happiness where only sadness had once been before, and he could only do that with the woman he loved most in this world, and the child he so adored.

Admiral Wells had used his British connections to help Khan and Nyota find work within Starfleet in London. They wanted to continue working for the Federation, so he ensured they were working in fields he knew they could still excel in, whilst balancing a home life for their daughter. His input also helped them find their home; a modern, South London suburban town house, ideal for a little family, and just out of the way of the bustle of Central London.

Nyota emerged from the house into their small garden, - they had a garden! Something she had not had herself since she was a little girl living with her parents. - Khan was laying on his back on the grass, with a nineteen month old Nirvanah held up over his head. The little girl was squealing with glee, laughs pouring from her and limbs waving in the air as Khan pretended she was flying. Khan watched her with delight, laughing as she did.

He noticed Nyota standing on the patio and gasped up at Nirvanah, "Look!" He told her, the girl's giggles quelled as Khan turned her slightly to see Nyota.

"Mama!" She exclaimed as Nyota grinned at her.

Khan sat up, bringing the child down from the skies and carefully setting her on her feet. Once she was steady, he released her and Nirvanah toddled over to greet her mother as fast as her little legs could carry her. Nyota stepped onto the grass and crouched down, extending her arms out to the child. Nirvanah reached her and giggled, flopping into her embrace.

"Hello my angel!" Nyota kissed her, scooping her up as she got to her feet. "Have you been having fun with Daddy?"

Nirvanah beamed at her, flashing her baby teeth, before turning in Nyota's arms and looking over her shoulder to find her daddy. Khan was still sat on the grass watching them, and pulled a face at the toddler who erupted into laughter again. Balancing the child on her hip, Nyota walked over to him. Nirvanah squirmed in her mothers hold to be released as they got nearer to him.

"Okay, okay!" Nyota laughed as the child wriggled. She put her down and let her run to him. Nirvanah was strong and had learnt to walk with ease, so running was the natural progression, and like all toddlers, she loved to run.

"I'll race you!" Khan said as she neared him. He got to his feet, keeping his posture small and Nirvanah squeaked, delighted, and began running up the garden.

Nyota sat in Khan's spot on the grass and watched him slowly race their daughter, letting her win as she reached the back fence before he did. Nyota cheered loudly and Khan acted exhausted, flopping to the ground, puffed out.

"Daddy, Daddy!" Nirvanah ran to him and he sat up suddenly, pulling her into his lap and tickling her relentlessly. She laughed wildly.

Nyota smiled, she adored their lazy summer afternoons.

xxxx

"Mummy, up!"

Nyota lifted the wide awake child from her crib. Sunday was her favourite day, their lazy day where both Khan and herself were at home. She carried Nirvanah downstairs to the rest of the house, setting her down as she heard her PADD signal from the little study to her right. Nirvanah had already wandered off, following the noises coming from the kitchen, so she went to inspect her device.

Khan was wandering around the sun soaked kitchen preparing breakfast. He idly listened to the news reporter on the screen on the far wall as he dropped several pieces of bread in the toaster and yawned. He felt a small tug on one of his trouser legs and looked down to see the little person in her bumble-bee print pyjamas trying to get his attention.

"Good morning, my treasure." He smiled and she returned it, eyes sparkling. "Do you want some breakfast?"

Nirvanah reached her arms out to him and he picked her up, holding her easily with one arm and taking her over to the fridge.

"Juice pleese." She pointed to the orange carton. Khan smiled and got it from the fridge, placing it on the counter.

"Now, strawberry or apricot yoghurt?" He asked her.

"Strawuby."

The toast pinged from the toaster, surprising Nirvanah, yet as she ogled the machine, it slowly set her into a fit of giggles. Khan didn't understand her delayed amusement but the fact that she found it funny at all was amusing in itself. He poured orange juice into her sippy-cup and handed it to her. She took a drink, still laughing and spluttered, laughing again.

"You cannot drink and laugh." He told her, taking the cup from her as she caught her breath, "You also cannot drink and drive, or pilot." He let her take the juice again and sighed. "But I'll remind you of that when you're older."

Nyota entered the kitchen and breezed past them, over to the coffee machine. "Guess who's coming to visit today, Nirvanah?"

The child looked over her father's shoulder with big eyes and a face full of juice, watching as her mother turned to her.

"Uncle Jim!" Nyota said, Nirvanah's eyes widened as she smiled around her sippy-cup. "He says he has a present for you."

She wriggled her legs with excitement, softly kicking Khan in the ribs as he walked over to the kitchen table with her and some food.

"Aren't you a lucky girl." He said, letting her sit on his lap, "But first; food please." He gave her a spoon so she could eat her yoghurt, but she picked up his piece of toast with her free hand and began eating that instead.

xxxx

Kirk poked his head around the living room door and spotted Nirvanah on the floor playing a matching game on her interactive holo-sim. The projection showed her shapes in various colours in front of a simulated box, her mission was to match the correct colours and shapes to fit into the box. Nyota was sat comfortably on the sofa, reading whilst keeping a eye open for any trouble. She smiled at Jim and he waved, staying quiet so he could surprise the child who hadn't yet noticed his arrival.

"Nirvanah…" He sang. Her attention immediately snapped away from the holo-sim at the familiar voice.

"Gim!"

"How's my favourite little monster?" He got to the floor and cuddled her. "You been practicing being bad like I told you?"

"Fortunately for us, she seems to understand that your encouragements are ridiculous." Khan had stepped into the room, smiling slowly, "Oh, but she is learning to associate you with presents, and expects to be spoilt whenever you visit."

Nirvanah was beaming at him, eyes twinkling.

"Well I'm not one to disappoint." Jim told her as he sat cross legged on the floor next to her holo-sim. "Khan, can I borrow your PADD?" He gestured to the device under his arm, and Khan handed it to him, before taking a seat next to Nyota who had put her book down and was watching with interest.

"Remember last time I was here and we were talking about the spaceships?" Kirk reminded the child as he programmed the PADD with the holo-sim, she nodded as she watched him. He set the device down, "Lights, shutters." He asked the room, and darkness slowly fell around them.

Nirvanah grabbed Khan's leg, nervous of the dark. He gently ran a hand through her hair in reassurance as Kirk touched the holo-sim and showed her her newest present. Space was projected up into the room, blanketing the ceiling in stars and nebulas. Nirvanah let go of her father's leg, too mesmerised to be afraid. Gradually, one by one, different space crafts began to appear in space from different angles and views, each moving slowly over their heads.

"Now you can see all the ships in motion." Kirk said, laying on the floor. Nirvanah joined him, lying next to him and giggling as she gazed up at the ceiling with him. "It's like stargazing, only better, because you can see all the different kinds of starships from every corner of the galaxy, and decide which one you want to be in command of one day."

"This is amazing, Jim!" Nyota said, tucking herself into Khan's embrace as they sat together, also gazing at the projected galaxy. "Where did you get this from?"

"A buddy of mine developed it for use in the Academy; a way of speed testing the students on their ability to identify ships with the naked eye, not relying on scanners. This is a version of it; the one in the Academy runs much faster, so I had him slow it down." He explained, "I was so mesmerised by how beautiful it was, and I knew it would be perfect for Nirvanah."

"Well she has certainly never been this silent in an activity before." Nyota commented, smiling at her daughter who lay on the floor, transfixed.

"Enterpies!" She exclaimed and pointed upwards. A Federation ship rolled over their heads.

"Really?" Jim said, Nyota and Khan laughed at Nirvanah's mispronunciation. "Enter_prise._" Kirk said slowly, "_Prize._ Like prizes, winning things."

"_Pies.__" _Nirvanah repeated confidently.

"What was Daddy's ship called, Nirvanah?" Khan asked her.

"Vengeance!" She replied immediately. Jim sighed and looked to her.

"Oh, so you can say 'Vengeance' but you can't say 'Enterprise'?" The girl giggled wickedly, she already knew exactly how to play him. Kirk laughed and shrugged it off, looking back to search the galaxy with her.

xxxx

Khan and Nirvanah had both fallen asleep in their pyjamas, sprawled out on the sofa. The book he had been reading to her lay open over his leg, and Nirvanah's little body was safely curled up into him, her head resting on his chest. It was late now, but Nyota didn't have the heart to wake them and move them to their proper beds, they looked so comfortable together. She smiled, watching them peacefully and reflected upon her life. So much had changed in the six years, since she had first met Khan; herself and Khan especially.

Now here she stood, in love with a man who once caused her to wince at even the thought of him, with a child and a home, and a feeling of wholeness that she once only believed existed in literature. Her love for Khan still grew everyday, he was more than anything she could have ever imagined. He was a man who had endured and changed, but never faltered or been untrue in his adorations. He had let Nyota into his life and allowed her love to shape him, help him, and in return he had taught her things about herself and brought out feelings she never knew existed.

Nirvanah was the cherry atop the cake, the centre of their world. A little piece of the two of them who would be strong and brave, intelligent, capable of anything, and loved more than she would ever know. She was their peace, their long sought after tranquility from years of unjust cruelty. She was perfection, and she would be brilliant.

Nyota could never have imagined this life for herself, not in a million years. She was happy, loved, and giving love to the most important people in her life, and she wouldn't change any of it for the world.

* * *

**THE END.**

Thank you so much for sharing Khan and Nyota's adventure with me. I hope you have enjoyed the trilogy! :) Love VanillaJasmine. 


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